Annual Technical Report 2003 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by United States of America (SCIT/ATR/TM/2003/US)
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I. Evolution of registration activities
In calendar year 2003, the USPTO received 223,813 applications for the registration of a trademark including 273,581 classes. Application filings, as measured by total classes filed, increased 3.6 percent over prior year results, following a decline of 4.8 percent between 2001 and 2002. Through the first seven months of calendar year 2004 application filings were 143,509 with 177,053 classes, nearly 13 percent higher than the same period one year prior. Trademark application filings are projected to be more than 300,000 classes by the end of 2004.
The USPTO issued 130,934 certificates of registration including 169,720 classes in calendar year 2003. This represented a decrease of 10.8 percent from the prior year in the number of marks registered. The number of marks registered was still the second highest registered in a single year and reflects the progress made in disposing of pending applications that were still under examination from years when filings were increasing at record levels.
The U.S. became a member of the Madrid Protocol on November 2, 2003. All the legal requirements for implementing the Madrid Protocol in the U.S. were met to ensure implementation on the effective date. Under terms of the treaty, U.S. trademark owners will be able to file a single application with the USPTO in English, and pay in U.S. dollars. In the first two months under the Protocol, the USPTO received 200 international applications and 148 requests for extension of protection containing 267 classes. The International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) issued 19 international registrations.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
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The USPTO extracts text and image data to generate the weekly publication of the electronic (made available from the USPTO web site http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/tmog/) and enable the printing of paper copies of the registration certificates and updated registration certificates. The textual elements of these products are exported from the Office’s central database along with the representations of the marks which are extracted from the a database of digitized images, automatically inserted into the layout and forwarded electronically to the publisher, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), as a Postscript file. This process results in the fully automated formatting of the electronic Official Gazette and printing of the registration certificates. Improvements realized include increased economy and reduced cost and publication time – allowing for closer quality review of the products prior to publication. Additional reductions in process time are expected in the near future, as this process possesses the potential to further reduce overall cycle time.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
The USPTO provides a Notices Section in which the Office publishes various materials related to the registration and maintenance of trademarks. In addition, the USPTO makes extensive use of the USPTO Website to provide free access to trademark information. The Website, at http://www.uspto.gov currently provides access to the Official Gazette, a searchable data base of pending applications and registrations (TESS), an administrative data base with information regarding the bibliographic data and status of trademark applications and registrations (TARR), the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, the U.S. Goods and Services Manual using in examination; data bases related to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board actions, and various other materials related to Trademarks.
Mass storage media and microforms used
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As described above, the Office had automated its photocomposition process. Previously, the Office extracted all character data from the central database and manually included the design elements, the process now performs fully automatic layout of character and image data. The Office employs 3B2 for layout and continues to use the US Government Printing Office for production printing.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
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The USPTO currently uses a system for indexing the figurative elements of design marks that is based on the Vienna Classification System. The USPTO uses the three levels of classifications for all designs in the database for applications and registrations. These design codes are maintained within the automated databases and are used to support searching design marks within the Office’s search databases (both the internal search system (X-search) and the database made available on the Internet (TESS)).
The USPTO currently uses the Nice Classification system for classification of goods and services. The USPTO uses three additional classes, i.e., 200 for collective marks and “A” and “B” for certification marks. Other than this deviation, the USPTO applies Nice classifications to all goods and services.
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
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The USPTO provides valuable resources on the Internet to assist our customers. There is an electronic filing facility (TEAS) that allows for the completion payment and submission of new applications online. TESS provides a quality information retrieval facility to search for marks that are within our database. TARR provides up-to-date data on applications and registration, including the current status and prosecution history.
In addition, there are various other offerings including manuals used by examiners that explain various aspects of the USPTO and the trademark system. Visit us at: http://www.uspto.gov
The following TM CD-ROM products are available for purchase by the public:
Trademarks BIB: Bibliographic Information from Abandoned, Canceled, Expired, Pending, and Registered US Trademarks
This Cassis DVD-ROM contains the text of all abandoned, canceled, expired, pending, and registered trademarks from 1884 to present with 30 searchable fields. This DVD-ROM product is updated every two months. Trademarks BIB also refers to trademark image locations on USAMark, described below.
USAMark: Facsimile Images of United States Trademark Registrations
This Cassis CD-ROM contains facsimile images of U.S. trademark registration certificates issued from 1870 to the present. An “image” is an actual page of the trademark, including renewals and modifications, and looks just like the original printed document. USAMark is a document delivery system, not a search system. Retrieval is by document number only from a cumulative index that covers all issued discs. Excellent printed copies of actual documents can be obtained directly from a laser printer. USAMark is published monthly.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
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IX. Other relevant matters