T.M.E.P. § 203
Review for Compliance With Minimum Requirements

Executive summary:

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203 Review for Compliance With Minimum Requirements

In applications under §66(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1141f(a), the IB will determine whether the application complies with §66(a) prior to sending the request for extension of protection of an international registration to the USPTO. See TMEP §§1904 et seq. for further information about §66(a) applications.

Applications under §1 or §44 of the Act are given a receipt date (see TMEP §303.01) and then reviewed for compliance with the minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date (see 37 C.F.R. 2.21(a) and TMEP §202 for a list of these requirements).

If the minimum requirements of 37 C.F.R. 2.21 have been met, the USPTO assigns a filing date as of the date of receipt in the USPTO. See TMEP §§401 et seq. regarding the processing of new applications that meet the minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date, and TMEP §§204 et seq. regarding the processing of applications that do not meet the minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date.

The minimum requirements for receipt of a filing date under 37 C.F.R. 2.21(a) apply to all applications under §§1 and 44 of the Act, whether filed electronically or on paper. When an application is filed electronically, the TEAS system will not accept the transmission if the fields corresponding to the minimum filing requirements are not filled in. However, if the fields are filled in with incomplete or inappropriate information, the TEAS system will accept the transmission, but the USPTO will deny the application a filing date upon review for compliance with minimum filing requirements. For example, if the goods and services were identified as "all services in Class 42," TEAS would accept the transmission, but the USPTO would not give the application a filing date (see TMEP §§202.02 and 1402.02).