TEAS 6.1 and TEASi 3.1 release highlights

If you are a foreign-domiciled applicant, registrant, or party, you must be represented at the USPTO by a U.S.-licensed attorney in your trademark application or registration matter.

If you do not already have a U.S.-licensed attorney listed in your application, most of our forms will let you appoint a new attorney. You will be able to enter your new attorney’s contact and bar membership information within the form. Other forms will direct you to the Revocation, Appointment, and/or Change of Address of Attorney/Domestic Representative form to appoint an attorney before you file your document.

Give yourself enough time for filing. Our records must be updated with the attorney information prior to your attorney submitting your filing. Failure to appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney may result in a loss of legal rights.

All U.S.-licensed attorneys must provide their name, postal address, email address, and the following bar membership information:

• Bar membership number (if the bar provides one)
• The U.S. state or territory of the bar membership
• The year of their admission to the bar
• Attorney confirmation of active membership in good standing.

Allow yourself sufficient time for filing since our records must be updated with your required email address and bar membership information prior to the filing of certain forms.

If you enter your bar membership information in the corresponding TEAS fields, it will not display on the status tab in the Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) system.

Reciprocally recognized Canadian trademark attorneys and agents will continue to be authorized to represent Canadian parties in U.S. trademark matters, but your clients will now be required to appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney to correspond with the USPTO and to file formal responses.

Enter the name of the U.S.-licensed attorney in the “attorney name” field of the “attorney information” page of the forms. Identify the reciprocally recognized Canadian attorney and agent in the “other appointed attorney(s)” field.

Domicile address of a trademark applicant or owner will now be required.

Your Canadian client's domicile will need to be provided on the “applicant information” page or “owner information” page of the forms. “Domicile” for an individual applicant refers to the place the person resides and intends to be the person's principal home  and for a juristic entity applicant, such as a corporation or partnership, the principal place of business (headquarters) where the entity's senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities.

In most cases, a post-office box address, "care of" address or similar variation cannot be a domicile address. Generally, a street address must be provided.

We made it easier for attorneys to update their contact information by including the “attorney information” section in many TEAS forms.

To update the attorney name field (e.g., revoke an existing attorney and appoint a new attorney), you must use the Revocation, Appointment, and/or Change of Address of Attorney/Domestic Representative form. Similarly, to replace an attorney with another already appointed attorney, use the Replacement of Attorney of Record with Another Already-Appointed Attorney form.

A U.S.-licensed attorney may enter an appearance as the attorney of record if retained by the applicant and if one of the following is true:

• We have not previously recognized an attorney to prosecute the application on behalf of the applicant.
• We have granted the withdrawal of a previously appointed attorney.
• The applicant, registrant, or party has filed a revocation of the previous attorney without appointing a new attorney.

U.S.-licensed attorneys may be added as the attorney of record by completing one of the following actions:

• Using the Revocation, Appointment, and/or Change of Address of Attorney/Domestic Representative form
• Answering “yes” to the question asking “Do you want to appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney, newly appear as attorney of record on behalf of an owner or holder who is not already represented by a U.S.-licensed attorney, or update information for an existing attorney of record?” within most of the TEAS and TEASi forms.

Either option will allow you to enter your information on the “attorney information” page and will electronically update the “attorney of record” data in the USPTO TSDR database. You can sign and file either the Revocation, Appointment, and/or Change of Address of Attorney/Domestic Representative form or the TEAS form yourself when one of the above conditions exists. You do not need the owner to submit a separate filing.