In November 2019, Class 46 reported that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proposed an increase in the amount of many trade mark-related fees. Many of the proposed fees have now come to fruition and will become effective on 2 January 2021.

The approaching fee increases are shown in the table below.

As one can see, many of the fee increases are significant. The addition of a new $250 fee (per class) for the deletion of goods or services after the filing of a Section 8 or 71 Declaration is part of the Office’s continued effort to deter owners from filing Section 8 or 71 Declarations containing goods/services for which the owner is unable to provide acceptable evidence of current use of the mark in the United States.

The increases in the fees for enforcing rights before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board are also noteworthy.

These fee increases may now force potential opposers to act much more quickly during the extension of time period in an effort to amicably resolve a matter so as to avoid incurring the fees required to institute an opposition.

However, it may now be more cost-effective for an opposer to simply file a Notice of Opposition at the conclusion of the publication period instead of incurring the fees for filing an extension of time, attempting to negotiate a resolution and then having to later file a Notice of Opposition anyway once the extended time period is exhausted.

Michael Leonard is a partner of Fox Rothschild LLP and Co-Chair of the MARQUES International TradeMark Law and Practice Team