Proposed PTO Rule Change Would Require Description of All Non-Standard Character Marks

In a Notice published in the October 25 Federal Register, the USPTO is proposing to amend the Trademark Rules to require a description of the mark in all applications seeking registration of a mark that is not in standard characters form.


Under current practice, a description of the mark "may be included in the application and must be included if required by the trademark examining attorney." Rule 2.37.

"Because the USPTO has concluded that the description contributes to the accuracy of design coding and pseudo-mark determinations that are made before the application reaches the examining attorney, and ultimately to more complete searches, the USPTO proposes a rule change to facilitate initial design coding and to make available a description of the mark in all files where it is likely to be useful."

Comments on this proposed change must be received by the PTO by December 24, 2007 to receive consideration.
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