T.M.E.P. § 807
Drawing
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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807 Drawing
The drawing shows the mark sought to be registered. 37 C.F.R. 2.52. An applicant must submit a clear drawing with the original application in order to receive a filing date in any application for registration of a mark, except in applications for registration of sound, scent and other non-visual marks. See TMEP §807.09 regarding "drawings" in applications for registration of non-visual marks. The drawing is used to reproduce the mark in the Trademark Official Gazette and on the registration certificate.
The main purpose of the drawing is to provide notice of the nature of the mark sought to be registered. The drawing of a mark is promptly entered into the automated records of the USPTO and is available to the public through the Trademark Electronic Search System ("TESS") and the Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval ("TARR") database on the USPTO website at http://tarr.uspto.gov/. Timely public notification of the filing of applications is important because granting a filing date to an application potentially establishes a date of constructive use of the mark (see TMEP §201.02). Therefore, an application must include a clear drawing of the mark to receive a filing date. 37 C.F.R. 2.21(a)(3); TMEP §202.01.
Examining attorneys must require applicants to comply promptly with the drawing rules. Requests to defer drawing corrections until the application is approved for publication or registration should be denied.
There are two forms of drawings: "special form drawings," and "standard character drawings." See TMEP §§807.03 et seq. for information about standard character drawings, and TMEP §§807.04 et seq. for information about special form drawings. (Note: "Typed" drawings are acceptable for applications filed before November 2, 2003. See TMEP §807.03(i).)
The mark in the drawing must agree with the mark as used on the specimen in an application under §1 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1051; as applied for or registered in a foreign country in an application under §44, 15 U.S.C. 1126; or as it appears in the international registration in an application under §66(a), 15 U.S.C. 1141f(a). 37 C.F.R. 2.51; TMEP §§807.12 et seq. and 1011.01.