[E-trademarks] Trademark office fee increases + budget request = faster examination?

Mon Aug 26 17:27:09 EDT 2024

As I recall, the training program for new Trademark Examining Attorneys is
fairly intense, and somewhat lengthy, as they are not typically signing
their own work fully-independently for something like two years. Which
means many of the most significant benefits of additional hiring and
training would not become apparent during the same fiscal year that the
hiring took place.

In my completely biased opinion, hiring and adequately training additional
Trademark Examining Attorneys would be a worthy investment, but largely a
long-term one.

Sincerely,

Ed Timberlake
*Board Certified Specialist in Trademark Law
<https://www.nclawspecialists.gov/for-the-public/find-a-board-certified-specialist/results/detail/?id=29473>*

*Timberlake Law* <http://timberlakelaw.com/>
Chapel Hill, NC

Schedule a call on Clarity <https://clarity.fm/edtimberlake>
ed at timberlakelaw.com
919.960.1950

On Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 5:04 PM O'Connell Jr., Robert via E-trademarks <
e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:

> One also wonders how or why doubling or *tripling* the number of
> examiners will only help reduce exam times by a month.  Even allowing for
> training time and ramp-up, shouldn’t that ultimately reduce the examiners’
> workloads by 50-66%?  Shouldn’t that yield correspondingly faster exam
> times?  I know I am over-simplifying, but still.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Robert M. O'Connell, Jr.  **Of Counsel *[image: V-card]
> <https://www.orrick.com/api/sitecore/PersonnelPage/vCard?personnelGuid=D70E3581-E851-4059-998C-CB6F6087D51C>
>
> *Intellectual Property | *Boston
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>
>
> T: 1-617-880-1877
>
> robert.oconnell at orrick.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> *On Behalf
> Of *Jaclyn Ionin via E-trademarks
> *Sent:* Monday, August 26, 2024 4:17 PM
> *To:* For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek
> legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
> *Cc:* Jaclyn Ionin <jaclyn at ioninlaw.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [E-trademarks] Trademark office fee increases + budget
> request = faster examination?
>
>
>
> * [EXTERNAL] *
>
> I'm not sure I'd consider increasing the number of junior inexperienced
> examining attorneys to the extent that they outnumber the experienced
> attorneys and can't be properly trained or supervised a "cure"...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *JACLYN IONIN, ESQ.*
> Owner, Principal Attorney, Ionin Law
>
> <https://www.facebook.com/ioninlaw>
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> <https://www.instagram.com/ioninlaw/>
>
> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/ioninlaw/>
>
> <https://calendly.com/ioninlaw>
>
>
>
> Trademark & Business Law
>
>
>
> 646.470.1167
>
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>
> www.ioninlaw.com
>
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>
> 31 Hudson Yards, FL 11 New York, NY 10001
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=31%20Hudson%20Yards,%20FL%2011%20New%20York,%20NY%2010001>
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: App Banner Image]
>
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>
>
> On Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 12:53 PM Joshua D. Waterston, Esq. via
> E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:
>
> I went down the rabbit hole that is the USPTO fee increase proposal
> <https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/26/2024-06186/setting-and-adjusting-trademark-fees-during-fiscal-year-2025>
> and congressional budget process to see what the proposed FY 2025 increases
> will accomplish. After reading the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan
> <https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USPTO_2022-2026_Strategic_Plan.pdf>,
> which was aspirational but not overly illuminating, I reviewed the USPTO's FY
> 2025
> <https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/USPTO-FY2025-Congressional-Budget-Submission.pdf>
> budget request
> <https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/USPTO-FY2025-Congressional-Budget-Submission.pdf>.
> While Congress hasn't yet passed a budget for the fiscal year that begins
> in 36 days (the last budget approved on time was in 1997
> <https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/congress-has-long-struggled-to-pass-spending-bills-on-time/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20in%20the%20nearly,%2C%201989%2C%201995%20and%201997.>),
> the document is still helpful. The additional fees would result in the
> USPTO increasing the number of examining attorneys by 2-3 times current
> levels in the next FY, and reducing wait times
> <https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/application-timeline> by a month during
> that time, with further reductions in future years. See pages 51 and 52
> of the PDF
> <https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/USPTO-FY2025-Congressional-Budget-Submission.pdf>
> .
>
>
>
> While I'm not a fan of many of the USPTO's practices and policies (for
> example: system security, insisting on knowing where our clients sleep at
> night, proposing an Insufficient Information Fee for failing to meet 20
> specific criteria <https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-06186/p-74>,
> and generally increasing our clients' costs), it does seem that money is
> part of the cure. That being said, it would be nice to have a trademark
> process that seeks to approve trademarks using a uniform examination
> system, rather than (often arbitrarily) finding ways to reject valid
> trademark applications.  I'd also like a pony and a small island of my very
> own (and one for the pony, of course).
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Josh Waterston
>
>
>
> Joshua D. Waterston, Esq., CIPP/US
>
> (610) 544-8922
>
> law at jwaterston.com
>
> https://jwaterston.com
>
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