Will my personal information be available to the public?
Yes, the USPTO maintains public records for all applications and registrations that are accessible on the USPTO website. Certain personal information is required by law and the Trademark Rules when filing documents related to applications and registrations. Required information includes the trademark owner’s name, applicant’s or registrant’s domicile address and email address, and correspondence addresses and email addresses. Telephone numbers are not required. There are limited exceptions to making the information you provide public, as explained on this webpage.
Why does the USPTO make this information public?
Trademark statutes and rules require application and registration records to be publicly viewable. When you apply for a trademark registration, you are making a public record that is viewable on various platforms on the USPTO website. Any documents you submit become part of that public record. Each application and registration record remains publicly viewable, even after an application abandons or a registration cancels or expires.
You can find additional information and guidance related to the USPTO’s duty to maintain public records in the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) section 109.
How can I see my trademark records?
You can view and download documents contained in the USPTO’s electronic records using the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system. To retrieve the records relating to your trademark, enter your application serial number or registration number and click the “Documents” button. Your information is also publicly accessible through the Trademark Search system.
Why is my trademark application and registration information now appearing on internet search engines?
As noted above, trademark applications and registrations are public records. Parties not affiliated with the USPTO use our public records to create websites that feature information gathered from application and registration records, including any contact information you provided. The USPTO is not responsible for these websites and cannot remove information from them.
Will my trademark records help provide contact information for someone interested in researching my trademark?
Yes. The public uses USPTO application and registration records to identify the owner of a trademark and their attorneys and representatives. This information is valuable to the public and is often used to perform a clearance search when another party is considering whether to use a mark.
How can I prevent my personal information from being placed on the USPTO website?
You should carefully consider the information you provide to the USPTO to avoid providing any information you wish to keep out of the public record. Any information provided, from the initial application through review of the application until registration or abandonment, and in post-registration maintenance filings, becomes part of the public record, unless otherwise stated in our electronic forms.
As noted above, certain information is required under trademark statutes or rules when making application and registration submissions. This required information includes your name, domicile address, email address, and correspondence information, such as mailing addresses and attorney contact information. Telephone numbers are not required.
Please consider the following when providing contact information to the USPTO.
Domicile address
Although required, you may keep your domicile address out of the public record. Our forms allow you to provide a mailing address different from your domicile address if this is accurate to your situation. The mailing address will be viewable in the public record while the domicile address will not.
Providing the same address in the “mailing address” and “domicile address” fields will result in the address being publicly viewable. Although the public can't view the address you provide in the “domicile address” field, USPTO employees will have access to it. In addition, providing the domicile address in any other part of a form will make that address publicly viewable.
Email address
You must provide and maintain an email address, even if you're represented by an attorney who provides a correspondence email address. All email addresses become part of the public record. To avoid having a personal email address in the public record, you may wish to create an email address specifically for use with your application or registration.
Telephone numbers
Providing a telephone number makes it easier for USPTO employees to contact you to resolve issues with your submission. However, if you don't want your telephone number to become part of the public record, you are not required to provide it.
What personal information may be removed from public view?
In general, personal information that isn't required can be redacted from public view through an informal request. This includes:
- Driver’s license numbers
- Passports
- Social Security numbers or cards
- Credit or bank cards
- Bank or financial institution account information
- Personal medical information
- Birth and death certificates
- Tax ID numbers
You should never provide this type of information. However, if you provided this type of information and now see it appearing in the public record, please make an informal request to TMPolicy@uspto.gov for immediate removal from public view.
You may also submit an informal request to TMPolicy@uspto.gov to have your domicile address redacted from public view if you:
- Previously submitted your domicile address in an electronic form;
- Later provided your domicile address in a hidden field in our forms; and
- A different address is listed in the owner field in our records.
Payment information
Any payment information (credit card, debit card, bank account numbers) you provide through our electronic systems is kept confidential and separate from the application or registration record. It is never made part of the public record. Similarly, if you provide payment information with an allowed paper filing, the payment information will not be made part of the public record.
What personal information may be removed from the record?
Driver’s licenses, social security numbers, credit card information, and banking information are all private confidential information related to the applicant and should never be included with any submission to the USPTO unless/where specifically requested. If you do inadvertently provide this information in an application, response to office action, or any other electronic or paper filing, please make an informal written request to TMPolicy@uspto.gov for immediate removal from the record.
Note: Any payments properly made with a credit card, charge card, or bank card via the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) are separate from the application itself and kept confidential and secure, and are never made part of the publicly viewable record.
How may I remove other personal information from the record?
If you submitted information (other than the type discussed above) that you do not wish to be part of the public record in your own application or registration, you may petition the Director of the USPTO to request it be redacted from public view.
In addition, if you submitted an email address and later provide a different email address to replace it, you may petition the Director to request the previous email address be redacted from public view.
Petitions requesting redaction or removal of information from the public record involve waiver of a rule. Specifically, Trademark Rule 2.25 states, “Documents filed in the Office by the applicant or registrant become part of the official record and will not be returned or removed.” The Director will waive this rule only when there is evidence that an extraordinary circumstance exists warranting the redaction or removal of this information and there is no harm to other parties. If the facts establish there is harm to other parties or do not establish an extraordinary circumstance, your petition may not be granted.
Each petition is fact-dependent, and the specific relief requested may not be granted. Some common examples include:
- The full name of a trademark owner cannot be removed from the record. However, if the facts establish an extraordinary circumstance and no harm to other parties, a trademark owner’s name may be modified so that the full name does not appear in the public record.
- If a document was relied upon when making a decision about your application or registration, the entire document may not be removed from the record. Depending on the circumstances, you may be allowed to provide documents with the information redacted to replace the documents of record if the information provided was not relied on during review of the documents. However, any information relied upon when making a decision about your application or registration generally cannot be redacted.
- The USPTO cannot remove from the record an entire submission (for example, Section 8 declaration, Section 15 affidavit) that you made in your application or registration. However, depending on the facts, the submission may be given no effect while remaining of record.
The USPTO also cannot remove an entire application or registration record.
As noted above, all documents submitted in connection with an application or registration become part of the public record, including a petition.
If the USPTO issues a decision on your petition, whether it’s granted or denied, the petition fee will not be refunded.
You can file your petition through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). You should click on the overall “Petitions Forms” category from the TEAS front page and then select form number 3 (“Petition to Director").
How can I change the owner address?
To change the trademark owner’s address, use the TEAS Change of Address or Representation (CAR) form.
I am not the applicant or registrant. How can I get my personal information removed from the public record?
If information such as your name, address, or other information that could be used to identify a specific individual, appears in the public record for an application or registration that you’re not connected to, please email an informal request to TMPolicy@uspto.gov to have it redacted from the public record. Your request may be allowed when such information appears on a document in the record, such as an invoice or a contact list submitted as a specimen of use, and you have no other connection to the application or registration.