Inventors will pay less to apply for trademarks online

The Department of Commerce will issue a final rule Tuesday that gives inventors an incentive to apply for trademarks online. 

Starting Jan. 17, the agency’s Patent and Trademark Office is dropping its fee for applications submitted through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) by $50. 

The fee for new applications will be reduced from $325 to $275 per class of goods and services if the applicant authorizes email communication with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and agrees to file documents electronically. 

The office is trying to streamline the trademark process and cut down its administrative costs by getting more people to apply online and communicate with the office via email. 

The fee for new applicants filing under the TEAS Plus option, which has stricter requirements, will drop from $275 to $225 per class and applications for registration renewals will be reduced from $400 to $300 per class.

Fees for trademark applications and renewals filed on paper, however, will remain the same.  

In its filing in the Federal Register, the Department of Commerce said the reduced fees would help the office sustain its current funding, support its mission to do more of its work online and improve office efficiency.