The United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) administers the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et
seq., which provides for the registration of trademarks, service
marks, collective trademarks and service marks, collective
membership marks, and certification marks. Individuals and
businesses that use or intend to use such marks in commerce may
file an application to register their marks with the USPTO.
Individuals and businesses may also submit various communications
to the USPTO, including letters of protest, requests to make
special, responses to petition inquiry letters, petitions to make
special, requests to restore a filing date, and requests for
reinstatement. A letter of protest is an informal procedure whereby
third parties who object to the registration of a mark in a pending
application may bring to the attention of the USPTO evidence
bearing on the registrability of the mark. A letter of protest must
identify the application being protested and the proposed grounds
for refusing registration and include relevant evidence to support
the protest. A request to make special may be submitted where an
applicant requests that initial examination of an application be
advanced out of its regular order because the mark in the
application was the subject of an inadvertently cancelled or
expired previous registration. A response to a petition inquiry
letter is submitted by a petitioner who is responding to a notice
of deficiency that the USPTO issued after receiving an incomplete
Petition to the Director. A petition may be considered incomplete
if, for example, it does not include the fee required by 37 CFR 2.6
or if it includes an unveiled assertion that is not supported by
evidence. The USPTO generally examines applications in the order in
which they are received. A petition to make special is a request by
the applicant to advance the initial examination of an application
out of its regular order. A request to restore a filing date is
submitted by an applicant who previously filed an application that
was denied a filing date. The request must include evidence showing
that the applicant is entitled to the earlier filing date. If an
applicant has proof that an application was inadvertently abandoned
due to a USPTO error, an applicant may file a request to reinstate
the application. To support such a request, the applicant must
include evidence of the USPTO error. The public uses this
information collection for a variety of private business purposes
related to establishing and enforcing trademark rights. The USPTO
uses the information described in this collection to process
letters of protest, requests to make special, responses to petition
inquiry letters, petitions to make special, requests to restore a
filing date, and requests for reinstatement. Information relating
to the registration of a trademark is made publicly available by
the USPTO. The release of information in a letter of protest is
controlled and may be available upon request only.
US Code:
15
USC 1051 Name of Law: Trademark Act
US Code: 15
USC 1123 Name of Law: Trademark Act
IC lines are being modified to
account for rule making actions which result in the reduction in
the estimated numbers of paper based fillers and therefore a
reduction in postage costs associated with mailing items to USPTO
and burden hour due to faster submission process using electronic
forms.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form No Form Number Request for Reinstatement (TEAS Global)
0651-0061 2020 CWS.docx
USPTO Information Quality Guidelines May 24 2011.pdf
Request for Reinstatement (Paper)