T.M.E.P. § 804.05
Signature of Electronically Transmitted Documents

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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804.05 Signature of Electronically Transmitted Documents

In a document filed through TEAS or the Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals ("ESTTA"), the party filing the document does not apply a conventional signature. Instead, the filer does one of the following:

(1) The filer enters a "symbol" that the filer has adopted as a signature. The USPTO will accept any combination of letters, numbers, spaces and/or punctuation marks as a valid signature if it is placed between two forward slash ("/") symbols. 37 C.F.R. §§2.33(d) and 2.193(c)(1)(iii). Examples of acceptable signatures include /john doe/, /drl/, and /544-4925/; or

(2) The document is completed online, printed in text form, and given or sent to the signatory. The signatory signs the document in the traditional pen-and-ink manner. An image file of the signed document is then transmitted electronically through TEAS or ESTTA. This method of signature is used primarily by attorneys who complete a document online, print it, and mail or fax it to the client for signature in text form. The client signs the document and returns it to the attorney. The attorney scans the returned document to create a .jpg image file, and files the document through TEAS or ESTTA with the .jpg attachment.

These principles apply to the signature of all documents filed electronically, e.g., amendments to allege use, statements of use, requests for extension of time to file a statement of use, responses to Office action, affidavits of continued use or excusable nonuse under 15 U.S.C. 1058, affidavits or declarations of incontestability under 15 U.S.C. 1065; combined filings under 15 U.S.C. §§1058 and 1059, petitions for cancellation under 15 U.S.C. 1064, notices of opposition and requests for extensions of time to oppose under 15 U.S.C. 1063.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has held that an electronic signature on an electronic transmission pertains to all the attachments to the transmission. PPG Industries, Inc. v. Guardian Industries Corp., 73 USPQ2d 1926 (TTAB 2005).

If the signatory's name is not set forth in a TEAS document, the examining attorney should require that it be stated for the record. The examining attorney can enter this information through a note to the file.

See TMEP §301 for more information about electronic filing.