T.M.E.P. § 1715
Letters of Protest in Pending Applications
Executive summary:
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1715 Letters of Protest in Pending Applications
Protests from third parties who object to the registration of marks in pending applications must be sent in writing to the Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks. The Administrator for Trademark Identifications, Classification and Practice ("Administrator") will determine whether the information should or should not be given to the examining attorney for consideration. Third parties may not contact an examining attorney directly, either orally or in writing, regarding a particular application. If a third party attempts to contact an examining attorney, the examining attorney should refer the third party to the Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks. If an examining attorney receives a letter of protest without any indication that it has been granted by the Administrator, the letter should be referred to the Administrator for consideration. If the letter of protest was mistakenly entered in the record as a paper received from the applicant, all evidence of that receipt should be expunged from the records of the USPTO.
The purpose of a letter of protest is to permit third parties to bring facts relevant to the registrability of the mark to the attention of the USPTO. The procedure is intended to achieve this objective without causing undue delay in the examination process and without compromising the objectivity or the ex parte character of the examination process. In re BPJ Enterprises Ltd., 7 USPQ2d 1375 (Comm'r Pats. 1988). The letter of protest must contain factual, objective evidence.
The Administrator will grant a letter of protest only if the protestor submits prima facie evidence supporting a refusal of registration, such that publication of the mark without consideration of the issue and evidence presented in the letter of protest was or would be a clear error by the USPTO. See TMEP §§1715.02 and 1715.03.
When a protest is granted, the actual letter of protest is not made part of the record, or forwarded to the examining attorney or the applicant. The examining attorney receives a form letter from the Administrator indicating that a letter of protest was filed and briefly indicating the nature of the protest, with the factual evidence filed with the letter of protest attached.