Maintenance filings, COVID-19, and excusable nonuse (Trademark)

Are you a trademark owner with an upcoming deadline for a registration maintenance filing? If COVID-19 has directly impacted you or your business and temporarily prevented you from using your trademark, you may request to be temporarily excused from using your trademark. 

If you think this applies to you, when you file your section 8 or section 71 declaration, you must provide a statement that includes the following:

• An explanation of how COVID-19 has affected you or your business and caused you to temporarily stop using your trademark for the products and services covered by your registration
• The date your trademark was last used
• The steps you're taking to resume use, and
• The approximate date you expect to resume using your trademark.

For more information on excusable nonuse, please see Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) sections 1604.11 and 1613.11, and our Keeping your registration alive webpage for general information on how to maintain your trademark registration.

TEAS and TEASi unavailable Saturday, April 24

What's happening 

The Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and the Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASi) will be unavailable due to system maintenance on Saturday, April 24, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. We're updating the online forms to fix bugs and incorporate enhancements based on customer feedback. 

What you should do 

To avoid losing work, submit any completed and saved TEAS and TEASi forms, including e-signature forms, by 7:59 a.m. ET on Saturday, April 24. You will not be able to access previously saved forms or e-signature forms after the system maintenance.  

Next steps

To find out more about changes we’re making to TEAS and TEASi, read the release highlights on the TEAS and TEASi maintenance and enhancement page of the USPTO website. 

See the USPTO systems status and availability page on the USPTO website for the latest information on the operating status and availability of our online business systems.

Notice of system maintenance

What's happening

The Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and the Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASi) will be unavailable due to system maintenance on Saturday, February 13, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. We’re updating the online forms to fix bugs and incorporate enhancements based on customer feedback.

What you should do

To avoid losing any work, file all saved forms and e-signature forms by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, February 12. You will not be able to access previously saved forms or e-signature forms after the system maintenance.

Next steps

• To find out more about changes we’re making to TEAS and TEASi, read the release highlights on the TEAS and TEASi maintenance and enhancement page of the USPTO website.
• See the USPTO systems status and availability page on the USPTO website for the latest information on the operating status and availability of our online business systems.

Trademark -- Notice of system maintenance

The following systems will be unavailable due to system maintenance starting at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday, August 22, and ending at 5:30 a.m. ET Monday, August 24.

• Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
• Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASi)
• Trademark Next Generation Official Gazette (TMOG)
• Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR)

This maintenance is part of the USPTO’s ongoing commitment to improving the operational efficiency and stability of our systems and minimizing unexpected business disruptions. See the USPTO system status and availability webpage on the USPTO website for the latest information on the operating status and availability of our online business systems.

Trademark: TEAS and TEASi unavailable Saturday, Feb. 15

USPTO new exam guide, "Mandatory Electronic Filing and Specimen Requirements,” is effective February 15, 2020. It explains examination procedures in light of this rule change.

If you have questions about the guide, email TMPolicy@uspto.gov. 

Resources for mandatory electronic filing:

• USPTO makes electronic filing mandatory for trademark submissions
• TEAS and TEASi maintenance and enhancement

Update on USPTO systems status and availability

As you may already know from our previous updates, the USPTO has been performing emergency IT maintenance since Wednesday morning due to an issue with the agency’s PALM database, which affects many of our patent filing and payment systems. This issue stems from an internal systems failure and is not the result of any external causes.

I realize this disruption is inconvenient and frustrating to our customers. With that in mind I am in constant contact with the leadership of Patents and our Patent Trial and Appeal Board about how the systems outage is affecting their customers and the work of our employees.

I am also in constant contact with our acting chief information officer and his team about the around-the-clock work they are doing to restore the full functionality of these systems. At this time it appears that our emergency maintenance will continue into the weekend. Until the issue is resolved we will continue providing updates on the Systems Status and Availability page of our website at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET.

In the meantime, I want to urge those affected to use the alternative filing and payment methods available to our customers. Given the availability of the alternative methods, we do not plan to extend deadlines. We know you have questions about paper filing fees, and we are examining our options to see how we can address those concerns.

Again, I regret the inconvenience and frustration this has caused to our Patents and PTAB customers, and I want to assure you that we are doing our utmost to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Andrei Iancu

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO