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1304.02    Application Requirements for Collective Membership Marks

Under 37 C.F.R. §2.44, a complete application for a collective membership mark must include the following:

• (1) the legal name and physical address of the applicant (see TMEP §§803.02, 803.05);
• (2) the applicant’s legal entity type (see TMEP §803.03);
• (3) the applicant’s citizenship or the jurisdiction under whose laws the applicant is organized, and if the applicant is a domestic partnership or joint venture, the names and citizenship of the general partners or active members of the joint venture (see TMEP §§803.03(b), 803.04);
• (4) a description of the mark if the mark is not in standard characters (see TMEP §808);
• (5) a translation/transliteration of any foreign wording in the mark (see TMEP §809);
• (6) a drawing of the mark sought to be registered (see TMEP §807);
• (7) a filing fee (see TMEP §810);
• (8) a description of the nature of the membership organization such as by type, purpose, or area of activity of the members (see TMEP §1304.02(c));
• (9) classification in U.S. Class 200 for a §1 or §44 application, or the classification assigned by the IB for a §66(a) application (see TMEP §1304.02(d); and
• (10) a filing basis (see TMEP §§1304.02(a) - (a)(vi)), including verification of certain statements signed by the applicant or a person properly authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant (see TMEP §§1304.02(b) - b)(ii)).

37 C.F.R. §2.44(a)(1), (a)(2)(ii), (a)(3)(ii), (a)(4).

Requirements that differ in form from those in trademark or service mark applications. Most application requirements for collective membership marks are the same as those for regular trademarks and service marks. However, the filing basis, verification, identification, and classification requirements for collective membership mark applications differ in form from other trademark and service mark applications because of the difference between who owns and uses collective membership marks. See TMEP §§1304.02(a) - (a)(v) for information regarding filing basis requirements, TMEP §§1304.02(b) - (b)(ii) for information regarding the verification of certain statements, TMEP §1304.02(c) for identification requirements, and TMEP § 1304.02(d) for classification requirements in collective membership mark applications.

See TMEP Chapter 1600 for post-registration requirements.