T.M.E.P. § 904.01
Number of Specimens

Executive summary:

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904.01 Number of Specimens

One specimen for each class is required in an application for registration under §1(a) of the Trademark Act, or in an amendment to allege use or statement of use in an application under §1(b) of the Act. An applicant may choose to submit more than one specimen per class, but this is not required.

The Office previously required three specimens so that an interested party, such as a potential opposer, could permanently remove a specimen from an application file, yet not leave the file without a specimen. However, multiple copies of specimens are not necessary, because the public may make photocopies of the specimen. The Office no longer permits specimens to be removed from files. This ensures that there is a complete record of the submissions made by the applicant. See notice at 64 Fed. Reg. 48900, 48901 (Sept. 8, 1999) and 1226 TMOG 103 (Sept. 28, 1999).

904.01(a) More than One Item Specified in a Class

If more than one item of goods, or more than one service, is specified in an application in one class, it is usually not necessary to have a specimen for each product or service. However, if the range of items is very wide or contains unrelated articles, the examining attorney may request additional specimen(s) under 37 C.F.R. 2.61(b). See TMEP §1402.03 regarding broad identifications, TMEP §1402.03(b) regarding house marks, and TMEP §1402.03(c) regarding marks for "a full line of" a genre of products.

904.01(b) In Combined or Multiple-Class Applications

A combined (or multiple-class) application is a request to register the same mark for goods and/or services in multiple classes in a single application. There must be one specimen of the mark for each class.

See TMEP §§1403 et seq. regarding examination of multiple-class applications.