Trademark Office Moves to Require U.S. Lawyers for Applications

Trademark applicants would need to use a U.S.-licensed attorney to register their marks under a proposed Patent and Trademark Office rule change.

The agency, which published the proposal Feb. 15 in the Federal Register, said it seeks to improve compliance with U.S. trademark law and ensure the integrity of the trademark register.

The proposed change follows a flood of foreign trademark applications at the PTO in recent years. The 115,402 foreign applications in 2017 accounted for 26 percent of all filings, up from 70,853 filings making up 19 percent of 2015 filings, agency data show.

Attorneys would have to ...