Effective on Jan. 2, 2021, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) will increase fees for certain filings. Trademark filing
fees have not increased since January 2017. Specifically, the
trademark fee increases will affect five areas:
- Application filings;
- Petitions and Letters of
Protest;
- Post Registration Maintenance
filings;
- Deletion of Goods and Services
following an audit or adverse decision; and
- Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
(TTAB) filings.
By way of background, the USPTO is implementing the fee
increases to support critical IT projects, which are necessary to
address the impacts of increased filings and costs to support all
trademark operations. Other considerations for the fee increases
are improving the trademark register's accuracy, proof of use
and addressing filing behavior change. The USPTO is also seeking to
increase recovery of costs for the rising appeal and trial
proceedings.
