Speeding applications through the system

In an effort to encourage companies to bring products combatting coronavirus to market, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just announced a way to speed relevant trademark applications through their system. The expedited system gives higher priority to applications for things like masks, gloves, ventilators, and medical research that may help combat the coronavirus.

In order to take advantage of the program, you will need to file a regular electronic application, then separately submit a Petition to the Director of the Trademark Office, indicating that you are applying under the prioritized program, together with an affidavit explaining why the goods and services subject of your application meet the standards. If successful, these petitions will then skip to the front of the line to get assigned to an Examining Attorney, which should take about 2-3 months off of the normal trademark application process.

I'm about to try it for a few clients that filed relevant applications in last few weeks, so I will let you know how it goes!

** Update as of July 2: It works! The Petitions to the Director that we submitted for client applications for relevant goods were accepted within four business days of filing. and the applications were immediately assigned to an Examining Attorney, who promptly called me to tweak some minor issues with the proposed descriptions of goods/services. The Petitions we submitted that were a "stretch," for services that indirectly might have qualified under the program, were not surprisingly not approved for expedited treatment.

Photo by Samuele Errico Piccarini on Unsplash