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1306.02    Application Requirements for a Certification Mark

Under 37 C.F.R. §2.45, a complete application for a certification 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 filing basis (see TMEP §§1306.02(a)-(a)(vi)), including:
  • (a) verification of certain statements signed by the applicant or a person properly authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant (see TMEP §§1306.02(b)-(b)(ii));
  • (b) a statement specifying what the applicant is (or will be) certifying about the goods or services (see TMEP §1306.03(a));
  • (c) a copy of the certification standards governing use of the certification mark on or in connection with the goods or services (see TMEP §1306.03(b)) (required for Section 1(a) applicants only); and
  • (d) a statement that the applicant is not engaged (or will not engage) in the production or marketing of the goods or services to which the mark is applied, except to advertise or promote recognition of the certification program or of the goods or services that meet the certification standards of the applicant (see TMEP § 1306.03(c));
• (9) a list of the particular goods or services on or in connection with which the applicant’s authorized users use or intend to use the mark (see TMEP §§805, 1402);
• (10) classification in U.S. Class A for goods or U.S. Class B for services for a §1 or §44 application, or the classification assigned by the International Bureau, for a §66(a) application (see TMEP §§805, 1401);

37 C.F.R. §2.45(a).

Requirements that differ in form from those in trademark or service mark applications. Most application requirements for certification marks are the same as those for regular trademarks and service marks. However, the filing basis, verification, identification, and classification requirements for certification mark applications differ in form from other trademarks and service mark applications because of the difference between who owns and uses certification marks. See TMEP §§1306.02(a)-(a)(v) for information regarding filing-basis requirements, TMEP §§1306.02(b)-(b)(ii) for information regarding the verification of certain statements, TMEP §1306.02(c) for identification requirements, and TMEP §1306.02(d) for classification requirements in certification mark applications.

See TMEP §1306.03 for further information regarding the special elements of certification mark applications.

See TMEP Chapter 1600 for post-registration requirements.