thefederalregister.org Federal Register Research Archive

Document

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Actions

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (hereafter "USPTO" or "Agency"), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on the extension of an existi...

PDF versionFederalRegister.gov
Department of Commerce
Patent and Trademark Office

AGENCY:

United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of information collection; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (hereafter “USPTO” or “Agency”), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on the extension of an ( printed page 35181) existing information collection: 0651-0040 (Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Actions). The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comments preceding submission of the information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES:

To ensure consideration, you must submit comments regarding this information collection on or before August 10, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by any of the following methods. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

  • Email: . Include “0651-0040 comment” in the subject line of the message.
  • Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
  • Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
  • Telephone: LaToya Brown, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, 571-272-4283.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information should be directed to LaToya Brown, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; 571-272-4283; or with “0651-0040 comment” in the subject line. Additional information about this information collection is also available at https://www.reginfo.gov under “Information Collection Review.”

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The USPTO administers the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., as amended, which provides for the federal registration of trademarks, service marks, collective marks and certification marks. Individuals and businesses that use or intend to use such marks in commerce may file an application to register their marks with the USPTO. Section 13 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1063, allows individuals and entities who believe that they would be damaged by the registration of a mark to file an extension of time to file an opposition, and to file an opposition, to the registration of the mark. Section 14 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1064, allows individuals and entities to file a petition to cancel a registration of a mark. Section 20 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1070, allows individuals and entities to appeal any final decision of the examiner in charge of the registration of marks or a final decision by an examiner in an ex parte expungement proceeding or ex parte reexamination proceeding.

The USPTO administers certain provisions of the Trademark Act of 1946 through the regulations at 37 CFR part 2, which contains the various rules that govern the filings identified above and other submissions filed in connection with inter partes and ex parte proceedings. These petitions, notices, extensions, and additional papers are filed with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), an administrative tribunal empowered to determine the right to register and subsequently determine the validity of a trademark. The information in this collection must be submitted electronically through the TTAB's electronic filing system. If applicants or entities wish to submit the petitions, notices, extensions, and additional papers in inter partes and ex parte cases, they may use the forms provided through the TTAB's electronic filing system. This information collection includes the items needed for individuals or entities to file inter partes and ex parte proceedings regarding federal registration of their trademarks or service marks. Information is collected in view of the provisions of the Trademark Act of 1946. The responses in this information collection are a matter of public record and are used by the public for a variety of private business purposes related to establishing and enforcing trademark rights. This information is important to the public, as both common law trademark owners and federal trademark registrants must actively protect their own rights.

II. Method of Collection

Items in this information collection must be submitted through the TTAB's electronic filing system. However, in certain circumstances, information may be submitted in paper form by mail or hand delivery.

III. Data

OMB Control Number: 0651-0040.

Forms:

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information collection.

Affected Public: Private sector.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.

Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 44,550 respondents.

Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 76,000 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses in this information collection will take the public approximately 10 minutes (0.17 hours) to 21 hours to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed item(s) to the USPTO.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 1,016,891 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $347,776,722.

Table 1—Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Private Sector Respondents
Item No. Item Estimated annual respondents Responses per respondent Estimated annual responses Estimated time for response (hours) Estimated burden (hour/year) Rate 1 ($/hour) Estimated annual respondent cost burden
  (a) (b) (a) × (b) = (c) (d) (c) × (d) = (e) (f) (e) × (f) = (g)
1 Petition to Cancel: PTO-2188 2,600 1 2,600 18 46,800 $342 $16,005,600
2 Notice of Opposition: PTO-2120 6,900 1 6,900 18 124,200 342 42,476,400
3 Request for Extension of Time to File an Opposition: PTO-2153 9,350 2 18,700 0.17 (10 minutes) 3,179 342 1,087,218
4 Submissions in Inter Partes Cases, including: 20,000 2 40,000 21 840,000 342 287,280,000
  • Answers
  • Amendments to Pleadings
( printed page 35182)
  • Amendment of Application or Registration During Proceeding
  • Motions (such as consent motions, motions to extend, motions to suspend, etc.)
  • Evidence
  • Briefs
  • Oral hearing requests
  • Surrender of Registration
  • Abandonment of Application
  • Documents Related to Concurrent Use Applications
  • Notice of Intent to Appeal a TTAB decision
  PTO-2151
5 Notice of Appeal: PTO-2190 3,600 1 3,600 0.17 (10 minutes) 612 342 209,304
6 Ex Parte Appeal General Filing including: 2,100 2 4,200 0.50 (30 minutes) 2,100 342 718,200
  • Briefs
  • Oral hearing requests
  • Requests (such as requests to extend, requests to suspend, etc.)
  • Surrender of Registration
  • Abandonment of Application
  PTO-2189
  Total 44,550 76,000 1,016,891 347,776,722

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $10,725,767. There are no capital start-up costs, maintenance costs, or recordkeeping costs associated with this information collection. However, the USPTO estimates that the total annual non-hourly cost burden for this information collection, in the form of filing fees and postage, is $10,725,767.

Filing Fees

The fees for this information collection are listed in Table 2 below.

Table 2—Filing Fees
Item No. Fee code Item Estimated annual responses Filing fee ($) Non-hourly cost burden
  (a) (b) (a) × (b) = (c)
1 6401 Petition to Cancel (Paper Submission) 5 $700 $3,500
1 7401 Petition to Cancel 2,595 600 1,557,000
2 6402 Notice of Opposition (Paper Submission) 5 700 3,500
2 7402 Notice of Opposition 6,895 600 4,137,000
3 6404 Request for Extension of Time to File an Opposition under §§ 2.102(c)(1)(ii) or (c)(2) (Paper Submission) 5 400 2,000
3 7404 Request for Extension of Time to File an Opposition under §§ 2.102(c)(1)(ii) or (c)(2) 15,195 200 3,039,000
3 6405 Request for Extension of Time to File an Opposition under § 2.102(c)(3) (Paper Submission) 5 500 2,500
3 7405 Request for Extension of Time to File an Opposition under § 2.102(c)(3) 2,495 400 998,000
4, 6 7408 Request for an Oral Hearing 35 500 17,500
5 6403 Ex Parte Appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Paper Submission) 5 325 1,625
5 7403 Ex Parte Appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board 3,595 225 808,875
6 6406 Brief in an Ex Parte Appeal to the Board, per Class (Paper Submission) 5 300 1,500
6 7406 Brief in an Ex Parte Appeal to the Board, per Class 525 200 105,000
6 6407 Second or Subsequent Request for an Extension of Time to File an Appeal Brief, per Application (Paper Submission) 5 200 1,000
( printed page 35183)
6 7407 Second or Subsequent Request for an Extension of Time to File an Appeal Brief, per Application 470 100 47,000
  Totals 31,840 10,725,000

Postage Costs

The USPTO estimates that all submissions in this collection will be submitted by mail. The USPTO estimates that 308 items will be submitted by mail in a large envelope. The average first-class postage for a four-ounce mailed submission in a large envelope is $2.44, resulting in a total of $752 for submissions other than a Service of Process. The USPTO estimates that one Service of Process will be submitted by certified mail in a Priority Mail legal flat-rate envelope with a return receipt. The USPTO estimates that the average cost for a certified Priority mail legal flat-rate envelope with a return receipt is $15.07, resulting in $15 for Service of Process submissions. Therefore, the USPTO estimates the total combined postage cost for this collection is $767.

IV. Request for Comments

The USPTO is soliciting public comments to:

(a) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who intend to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

All comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of public record. The USPTO will include or summarize each comment in the request to OMB to approve this information collection. Before including an address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable information (PII) in a comment, be advised that the entire comment—including PII—may be made publicly available at any time. While one may request in a comment to withhold PII from public view, the USPTO cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.

Justin Isaac,

Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Footnotes

1.   2025 Report of the Economic Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association; pg. F-35. The USPTO uses the average billing rate for intellectual property work in all firms which is $550 per hour ( https://www.aipla.org/​detail/​journal-issue/​2025-report-of-the-economic-survey).

2024 National Utilization & Compensation Report Executive Summary published by the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA); pg. 2. The USPTO uses the average billing rate for paralegals/paraprofessionals, which is $134 per hour ( https://nala.org/​wp-content/​uploads/​2025/​01/​2024-NALA-Compensation-Utilization-Report-ExecSumm-FINAL-1-15-25.pdf).

The $342 hourly rate is the average of the two cited rates above.

Back to Citation

[FR Doc. 2026-11575 Filed 6-9-26; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-16-P

Legal Citation

Federal Register Citation

Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.

91 FR 35180

Web Citation

Suggested Web Citation

Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.

“Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Actions,” thefederalregister.org (June 10, 2026), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2026-11575/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-for-review-and-approval-comme.