Important information regarding your pending trademark applications and registrations.
The federal government is facing an imminent government shutdown on October 1, 2013, beginning tonight at midnight. If Congress does not pass a budget, the federal government will begin shutdown procedures. During such a shutdown, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will remain open, using prior year reserve fee collections, and operate as usual for approximately four weeks.
The USPTO will continue to assess fee collections compared to its operating requirements to determine how long it will be able to operate in this capacity during a general government shutdown. If the USPTO continues to operate on this reserve, there should be no impact upon your trademark applications or registrations.
Should the USPTO exhaust these reserve funds before a general government shutdown comes to an end, USPTO would shut down at that time, although a very small staff would continue to work to accept new applications and maintain IT infrastructure, among other functions. The USPTO filing system will remain online with this minimal staff support. The USPTO will post further updates related the potential government shutdown on its website.
Please contact me with any questions.
