117.06    Correspondence With Foreign Party

If a party to a Board proceeding is not domiciled in the United States and is not represented by an attorney who is licensed to practice law in the United States, correspondence will be sent to the party’s domestic representative, if one has been appointed. However, a domestic representative cannot represent a party in Board proceedings. [ Note 1.] If the party has not appointed a domestic representative and a U.S. licensed attorney has not yet been appointed in the proceeding, the Office will send correspondence directly to the party at the address of record for the party, which the party may request in writing to change. [ Note 2.]

Please Note: Effective August 3, 2019, the Office amended 37 C.F.R. § 2.11(a)  to require foreign-domiciled applicants, registrants, or parties to a trademark proceeding to be represented by an attorney who is licensed to practice law in the United States. If a foreign-domiciled party appears without an attorney, generally, the Board will suspend the proceedings and inform the party of the time frame within which it must appoint a U.S. licensed attorney. [ Note 3.]

NOTES:

 1.   See TMEP § 610.

 2.   See 37 C.F.R. § 2.119(d).

 3.   See Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc. v. Ongoing Operations, LLC, 2020 USPQ2d 10019, at *1 (TTAB 2020) (Board suspended proceedings pending appointment of United States counsel). See alsoTMEP § 601.