Increased Trademark Fees

The Trademark Office is proposing fee changes for many trademark filings. Some of these are fairly drastic. For instance, the fee for filing an initial trademark application is currently $375, but the Office is proposing that this fee be increased to $600. Most of the increased fees are associated with paper applications and paper filings. Clearly, the Office is trying to deter applicants from filing in paper because of the increased time which such applications demand in initial processing and examination. The fee changes have not been approved yet, but could go into effect this year. A comments period is currently open; more information is available here: Federal Register Notice