The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is raising many fees for trademark filings effective January 18, 2025. Many fees will increase by $50–$100 per class of goods and/or services. The USPTO will also impose surcharges on many applications filed under the Trademark Act Sections 1 (these are national applications, mostly filed by US entities) and 44 (these are applications based on foreign applications and registrations, mostly filed by foreign entities). Although many fees for international registration filings (Section 66(a)) will also rise, they are not discussed here in detail.
In light of the fee increases, if you are considering filing any trademark applications, it would be best to try to file before January 18, 2025.
Some changes will require a fresh look at the filing strategy and will make it more difficult to estimate both the fees for professional services and also the government fees. For example, up to now, it has been possible to file an application with minimal information and filing fees for just one class, but going forward, there will be surcharges for missing information and “incomplete” applications or fee payments for additional classes. Supplying missing information will now incur surcharges. For the first time, there will also be surcharges for descriptions of goods and services within a class that exceed 1,000 characters (this paragraph is about 700 characters).
Obviously, these changes will require analysis before filing in order to determine the least expensive route because the list of “incorrect” or missing information that will result in a $100 or $200 surcharge is quite extensive. We think that responding to many comments from the USPTO examining trademark attorneys will require payment of additional government fees. The list includes the following actions that will incur surcharges, among other items:
- Correct classification of goods and services and descriptions drawn from the USPTO ID Manual
- Payment of fees for all classes claimed
- If the mark includes color, statements about the color claim
- If the mark is not in standard characters and/or has design features, a written description of the mark
- If the mark includes non-English wording, an English translation of that wording
- If the mark includes non-Latin characters, a transliteration of those characters
Below is a chart outlining the major fee changes we expect to encounter:
| Fee Description | Current Fee | New Fee |
| Base application (Sections 1 and 44), per class | Depended on type of filing, options now removed | $350 |
| Surcharge Description | Current Fee | New Fee |
| Insufficient information in application (Sections 1 and 44), per class | n/a | $100 |
| Using the free-form text box instead of the Trademark ID Manual to identify goods and services (Sections 1 and 44), per class | n/a | $200 |
| Each additional group of 1,000 characters in the free-form text box beyond the first 1,000 (Sections 1 and 44), per affected class | n/a | $200 |
| Post-registration Maintenance Fees | Current Fee | New Fee |
| Renewal application (Sections 8 and 9), per class, as required every 10 years after registration | $525 | $650 |
| Section 8 declaration of use, per class, as required before the sixth anniversary of the registration | $225 | $325 |
| Section 15 declaration (for “incontestability”), per class, usually combined with the first Section 8 filing | $200 | $250 |
| Section 71 declaration of use of international registration, per class | $225 | $325 |
| Petitions and Letters of Protest Fees | Current Fee | New Fee |
| Petition to the Director | $250 | $400 |
| Petition to revive an application | $150 | $250 |
| Letter of protest | $50 | $150 |
| Intent-to-Use Fees (for filings under Section 1(b)) | Current Fee | New Fee |
| Amendment to Allege Use (AAU) or Statement of Use (SOU), per class | $100 | $150 |
To learn more about how trademark applicants may take action before the effective date to minimize the impact of the upcoming trademark fee increases, please contact the authors or anyone else in McCarter & English’s comprehensive trademark practice group.