The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced on 15 November 2024 that it will increase trademark-related fees starting on 18 January 2025, which will cover several procedural fees and introduce new fee rules. The purpose of this adjustment is to ensure that the USPTO continues to provide efficient and reliable trademark services while balancing operating costs.

This adjustment includes two main focuses, including fee increases and changes to the U.S. Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) service.

The Major Changes in Trademark Application Fees

1. Eliminate current TEAS rates and standardize application fees
   
   

   TEAS Standard (USD350 per class) and TEAS Plus (USD250 per class) will no longer be offered in favor of a single submission pipeline and TEAS-related fees will be eliminated. A uniform base filing fee of USD350 per category will be applied to all U.S. Trademark Act Section 1 and Section 44 applications. This simplifies the application process but increases the cost for applicants who were using TEAS Plus.

   
   
2. Increase in international application fee for the Madrid Protocol
   
   

   The international trademark application fee based on Section 66(a) of the U.S. Trademark Act will be increased from USD500 to USD600 per class.

   
   
3. New additional charges
   
   

   Lack of Information Fee: A fee of USD100 per class will be charged if a trademark application is submitted with incomplete information that needs to be corrected. Customized Description of Goods or Services Fee: If the applicant does not use the USPTO's standard description of goods or services and chooses to customize the description, a fee of USD200 per class will be charged. Extra Long Description Fee: If the customized description exceeds 1,000 characters , an additional USD200 per class will be charged for each additional 1,000 characters in excess.

Adjustment of maintenance fees after registration

After the registration of a trademark, the owner of the mark is required to submit relevant documents periodically to maintain the legal effect of the trademark. The following are some of the major adjustments:

(1)	Section 8 Declaration (Declaration of Actual Use) The current fee is $225 per class, to be adjusted to $325. This fee applies to the filing of a declaration that the mark is still in use.
(2)	Section 9 registration renewal application The fee for a renewal application is increased from US$300 to US$325 per class. This fee applies to renewal applications once every 10 years.
(3)	Section 15 Declaration (Declaration of Incontestability) The fee is adjusted from USD200 to USD250 per class. This statement enhances the legal status of a trademark and protects it from being challenged under certain circumstances.
(4)	Section 71 Declaration (Declaration of Use for Non-U.S. Registrations) The fee is increased from USD225 to USD325 per class. This applies to trademark registrations filed pursuant to the Madrid Protocol.
(5)	WIPO Trademark Extensions The fee has been adjusted from USD300 to USD325 per class. Applicable to trademark registrations filed with WIPO.

Other significant fee adjustments

In addition to the application and maintenance fees, some other important fee adjustments are as follows:

(1)	Petition and Objection Related Fees Petition to the Director: from USD250 to USD400. Petition to revive an application: from USD150 to USD250 per petition. Letter of protest: from USD50 to USD150.
(2)	Intent-to-use applications Amendment to allege use (AAU): Fee increases from USD100 to USD150 per class. Statement of use (SOU): Fee increases from USD100 to USD150 per class.