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T.M.E.P. § 602.04
Revocation of Power of Attorney

Executive summary:

This document contains one section of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (the "TMEP"), Fourth Edition (April 2005). This page was last updated in June 2007. You may return to one either the section index, or to the key word index. If you wish to search the TMEP, simply use the search box that appears on the bottom of every page of BitLaw--be sure to restrict your search to the TMEP in the pop-up list.

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602.04 Revocation of Power of Attorney

37 C.F.R. 2.19(a). Authority to represent an applicant, registrant or a party to a proceeding may be revoked at any stage in the proceedings of a case upon written notification to the Director; and when it is revoked, the Office will communicate directly with the applicant, registrant or party to the proceeding, or with the new attorney or domestic representative if one has been appointed. The Office will notify the person affected of the revocation of his or her authorization.

An applicant may revoke a power of attorney by filing a written revocation. The USPTO will acknowledge the revocation and will no longer recognize the attorney in that case unless he or she is again specifically appointed.

To expedite processing, the USPTO recommends that revocations of powers of attorney be filed through TEAS, at http://www.uspto.gov/teas/index.html.

When an applicant is represented by an attorney, a change in representation can be made only by a written request signed by the applicant. If the applicant files a new power of attorney, the address contained in the new power of attorney becomes the correspondence address of record. If the applicant files a revocation of the previous power of attorney without a new power of attorney, correspondence will be sent either to (1) the applicant, or (2) the attorney signing the cover letter or action accompanying the revocation.

The new attorney cannot sign a new power of attorney or revocation of the previous power of attorney on behalf of the applicant. The revocation must be signed by the individual applicant, or by someone with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant (e.g., a corporate officer or partner of a partnership).

The USPTO considers a power of attorney to end with registration. After registration, if the owner of a registration files a paper request to revoke a power of attorney appointed before registration, the USPTO scans an image of the revocation into the record but does not change the attorney of record in TRAM unless the owner concurrently files a §8 or §15 affidavit, §9 renewal application, or request to amend or correct the registration under §7 of the Act. See TMEP §1612.