401 Processing New Applications
Upon receipt in the USPTO, trademark applications filed under §1 or §44 of the Trademark Act are given a date of receipt and reviewed for compliance with the minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date ( see TMEP §202). See TMEP §§201 and 1904.01(b) regarding the filing date of applications under §66(a) of the Trademark Act.
If an application meets the minimum filing date requirements of 37 C.F.R. §2.21, it is given a filing date and serial number.
See TMEP §§204–204.03 regarding the processing of applications that are not entitled to a filing date and TMEP §702.01 for information on the order of examination.
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 application data 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 application data 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 sent via e-mail to TMfilingreceipt@uspto.gov or mailed to the Commissioner for Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1451. 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.
Corrections and Voluntary Amendments
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 be sent via e-mail to TMfilingreceipt@uspto.gov or mailed to the Commissioner for Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1451.
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 submitted before the application is assigned to an examining attorney is placed in the record when filed and will be considered during initial examination; it will not be examined out of order. See TMEP §702.01. 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 §807.17 regarding the processing of unacceptable amendments to drawings and TMEP §1402.15 regarding the processing of unacceptable amendments to identifications. In addition, an application that does not meet the minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date at the time of filing may not be perfected by filing a voluntary amendment prior to examination. See TMEP §§204-204.03 regarding applications that do not meet minimum filing requirements, TMEP §702.01 regarding the order of examination, TMEP §807.14 regarding material alteration of a mark, and TMEP §§1402.07–1402.07(e) regarding the scope of the identification of goods and/or services for purposes of amendment.
401.02 Application Serial Numbers
Each application for registration is assigned an eight-digit serial number comprised of a two-digit series code and six additional numbers assigned by order of filing within the series code. To ensure that a communication is correctly routed within the USPTO, applicants must include the entire eight-digit number on all communications related to a particular application.
As a general rule, the serial numbers of applications filed prior to the 1905 - 1920 Acts are preceded by the series code "70."
Applications filed under the 1905 - 1920 Acts (i.e., applications filed through July 4, 1947) were preceded by the series code "71." The last serial number was 526,346.
As of July 5, 1947, applications were filed under the 1946 Act, beginning with number 526,500 and running through number 700,943 (preceded by the series code "71").
On January 3, 1956, a new series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "72" was started, after a change in record-keeping methods. This series ran through number 467,233, issued on August 31, 1973.
A new series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "73" began with applications filed on September 4, 1973, which was the first day of receipt of mail after the adoption of the international classification of goods and services as of September 1, 1973 (see TMEP §1401.02).
A new series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "74" began with applications filed on November 16, 1989, the date on which the Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988 took effect.
A new series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "75" began with applications filed on October 1, 1995.
A new series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "76" began with applications filed on March 20, 2000.
A series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "77" began September 14, 2006 for applications filed through TEAS on or after that date.
A series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "78" was used for TEAS applications filed prior to September 14, 2006.
A series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "85" began April 1, 2010 for all applications filed through TEAS on or after that date.
A series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "86" began July 1, 2013 for all applications filed through TEAS on or after that date.
A series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "87" began April 13, 2016 for all applications filed through TEAS on or after that date.
Effective November 2, 2003, a series of serial numbers preceded by the series code "79" is used for requests for extension of protection of international registrations to the United States under §66(a) of the Trademark Act.
A range of serial numbers, beginning with number 975,000, is used for applications that are created through the "dividing" of an application (see TMEP §§1110–1110.11(a)).
401.03 Data Entry
For applications filed through TEAS, the data provided by the applicant is loaded directly into the Trademark database.
For applications filed on paper, the application documents are scanned and the data is manually entered into the Trademark database, which is used by USPTO employees to obtain information about the location, status, prosecution history, ownership, and correspondence address for applications and registrations. This information is available to the public through the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval ("TSDR") database, available on the USPTO’s website at http://tsdr.uspto.gov/.
401.04 Creation of Application Records
The USPTO maintains an electronic record of all applications, containing all incoming and outgoing documents, which comprises the official administrative record. See TMEP §402; see generally 15 U.S.C §1071(a)(4); 5 U.S.C. §§556, 557, 706.
For paper applications, the USPTO scans all incoming documents and creates an electronic record. The examining attorney works from the electronic record, and outgoing communications are put into the electronic record only.
All applications are electronically routed to the law offices.