Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : November/December 2003

Enhanced USPTO Trademark Data Reloaded to TRADEMARKSCAN^® U.S. Federal

As a result of major changes at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, (USPTO) and additional changes made by Thomson & Thomson, TRADEMARKSCAN® U.S. Federal (File 226) has been reloaded to incorporate significant new trademark legal status detail. Some of the highlights are:

• Enhanced detail in TTAB information
  Format 12 has been added to allow users to display just the TTAB information. This includes extensive details of opposition, cancellation, concurrent use and interference actions, status updates of both the plaintiff and defendant, and the prosecution history. Additional TTAB-related information includes ExParte appeals, where the examining attorney has refused the application, as well as "extension of time to oppose." New fields PL=Plaintiff and CT=Cited Trademarks can be searched across all TTAB actions. The new TA=Type of Action index is designed to assist the user in retrieving trademark records that include information about specific actions such as cancellations, interferences, and more.
  
  
• More information on the application process
  More detail has been made available by the USPTO including an affidavit section description, correspondence data, domestic representation (under filing correspondent) and foreign registration renewal data. The use of /DESIGN in a search indicates that the trademark contains a design. Including the RT=IMAGE term in a search guarantees that retrieved records will contain an image of the trademark.
  
  
• USPTO changes in assignments
  The USPTO has moved and grouped some fields to the Assignor rather than the whole assignment. The new searchable field RK (Reassignment Kind labeled as the Brief) allows you to determine the type of reassignment whether the reassignment is for security interest (usually to a bank), a transfer reassignment or a name change. The date each assignor signed is also included.

Effective immediately the USPTO is using international classification codes exclusively. All references to the formerly-used U.S. classification codes have been removed. This will make searching with international classes more focused since they will only reflect the actual classification associated with the mark.

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