401.01 Filing Receipts
TEAS Applications
When an application is filed electronically, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") generally receives it within seconds after filing, and TEAS almost immediately displays a "Success" page that confirms receipt. This page is evidence of filing should any question arise as to the application filing date, and may be printed or copied-and-pasted into an electronic record for storage. TEAS also separately sends an e-mail acknowledgement of receipt, which includes a summary of the filed information and general processing information. No paper filing receipt is sent by the USPTO to the applicant.
The applicant or its attorney should immediately review the summary of the filed information for accuracy. If the information in the summary is inconsistent with the information transmitted by applicant, the applicant or attorney should notify the USPTO by sending an e-mail message to TEAS@uspto.gov.
Section 66(a)Applications
For §66(a) applications (i.e., requests for extensions of protection of international registrations to the United States), the USPTO sends a filing receipt to the correspondence address of record. See TMEP §§1904.02(i) regarding the correspondence address in §66(a) applications.
The applicant or its attorney should review the information on the filing receipt for accuracy and notify the USPTO in writing of any discrepancy. A request for correction of a filing receipt should be directed to the Commissioner for Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1451, or sent via e-mail to TMfilingreceipt@uspto.gov. See TMEP §1904.13(b) regarding corrections to §66(a) applications.
Paper Applications Under §1 or §44
For paper applications under §1 or §44 of the Trademark Act, after an application has been given a filing date, a filing receipt is sent to the applicant. The filing receipt identifies the following: (1) the mark; (2) the application serial number, filing date, and register; (3) the type of mark (e.g., trademark or service mark); (4) the statutory basis or bases for filing, if provided at the time of filing; (5) the identification of goods and/or services, and international classes; (6) information about the applicant (and the applicant’s attorney, if provided); and (7) the address to be used for correspondence. See TMEP §201 for further information about what constitutes the filing date.
The applicant or attorney should review the information on the filing receipt for accuracy and notify the USPTO in writing of any discrepancy. A request for correction of a filing receipt should be directed to the Commissioner for Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1451, or sent via e-mail to TMfilingreceipt@uspto.gov.
An applicant should send a request for correction of a filing receipt only if the information on the filing receipt is inconsistent with the information in the application as filed. If the applicant made an error in the application, the applicant should file an amendment rather than a request for correction of the filing receipt. An electronic form for filing voluntary amendments is available through TEAS. Note: A voluntary amendment filed before the application is assigned to an examining attorney is placed in the record for consideration at the time the application is assigned and will not be examined out of order. Moreover, the mere filing of a voluntary amendment does not guarantee that the amendment will be accepted. For example, the examining attorney will not accept a voluntary amendment that materially alters the mark shown on the original drawing, or that expands the scope of the goods and/or services in the original application. See TMEP § 702.01 for information on the order of examination, TMEP §807.14 regarding material alteration of a mark, and TMEP §1402.07 regarding the scope of the identification of goods and services for purposes of amendment.