Online forms will comply with new rule requiring electronic filing
The online TEAS and TEASi forms were updated on Saturday, February 15, 2020, for compliance with the final rule requiring applicants, registrants, and their attorneys to:
- File their submissions online using our Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).
- Provide and maintain an accurate email address for the applicant/registrant.
- Provide and maintain an accurate email and postal address for the attorney, if one was appointed.
Learn more about this change to federal trademark law and how it affects you.
On March 14, 2020, we'll update TEAS and TEASi with enhancements and to fix bugs.
For questions about this TEAS and TEASi release, email TEAS@uspto.gov.
Changes to all forms
Owner/holder email address must be included
Owner/holder email address is now a required field, even if the owner/holder is represented by a qualified attorney. The owner’s email address must be different from the attorney of record‘s email address. For in-house counsel and attorneys representing themselves in a matter, the TEAS forms still require two different email addresses: one for the attorney email address field and one for the owner email address field. For technical reasons related to the TEAS forms, these addresses cannot be identical.
Correspondence address
The correspondent in an application or registration is the appointed attorney, if any. If an attorney is not appointed, the correspondent is the applicant or registrant.
Email authorization is now presumed
When you provide an email address, you no longer need to check a box to authorize us to communicate with the owner/holder or attorney by email.
New Recognized Canadian Attorney/Agent field in Attorney Information section
Reciprocally recognized Canadian trademark attorneys and agents will have a designated data field for entering their name on the Attorney Information page.
Email address for filing receipt
The Validation Page prepopulates the email address field with the primary email address for correspondence that officially receive the filing receipt and the secondary email addresses that receive courtesy copies. You are no longer able to edit the email address fields on the Validation Page. If you need to make changes, you must go back in the form and edit the email addresses.
Changes to initial application forms
New dedicated domicile address field
TEAS initial application forms and the Change Address or Representation form include both a “mailing address” field and a “domicile address” field on the Owner Information page. If the owner’s mailing address is not the same as the owner’s domicile address, enter the domicile address, which generally must include a street address, in the domicile address field. The owner’s mailing address must be capable of receiving mail.
Information entered in the new domicile address field is not be publicly viewable in our Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) database in either the status tab or the filed documents. However, entering the domicile address in any field, other than the designated domicile address field, results in the information being publicly viewable in TSDR.
New consolidated initial application form for TEAS Standard and TEAS Plus filings
The TEAS Reduced Fee (RF) form was renamed TEAS Standard and the TEAS Regular option was removed. We have combined the two initial application form types, TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard, into a single form interface in order to improve usability.
New fields sole proprietors
The “sole proprietorship” entity type has two new data fields on the Owner Information page. Domestic sole proprietorships are be able to enter their name in a new “Name of Sole Proprietor” field and select the sole proprietor’s citizenship from a new “Country/Region/Jurisdiction/U.S. Territory of Citizenship of Sole Proprietor” drop down menu.
Changes to petition forms
Petition to Director
We have enhanced the Petition to Director form to better meet your needs by adding wizard questions. After you enter your serial number or registration number, you need to select the reason for your petition and answer questions to indicate the type of information you want to provide within the petition. We have provided you with the necessary fields for completing each petition type. The form now includes an Owner Information page and an Attorney Information page for you to provide or update required information. You no longer need to file a separate TEAS form to update this information.
Changes to correspondence and attorney/domestic representative forms
New Change Address or Representation Form (CAR)
We created a new form called the Change Address or Representation Form (CAR).
CAR combines and replace six previous forms:
- Revocation/Appointment of Attorney and Domestic Representative
- Change of Owner Address
- Change of Correspondence Address
- Replacement of Attorney
- Withdrawal of Domestic Representative
- Change of Domestic Representative’s Address.
This streamlines changes to correspondence-related updates for specific trademark application(s) or registration(s).
CAR uses role-based logic, which allows you to complete actions based on your selected role and the status of your application(s) or registration(s) in our database. For example, if your role is an attorney, you may be presented with questions for updating the owner information, attorney information, or domestic representative information, if any.