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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 3037-3038]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00274]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

37 CFR Parts 2 and 7

[Docket No. PTO-T-2022-0034]
RIN 0651-AD65

Setting and Adjusting Trademark Fees During Fiscal Year 2025

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule; correction.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is 
correcting nonsubstantive errors in the preamble and regulatory text of 
a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on November 18, 
2024. That final rule set or adjusted trademark fees as authorized by 
the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), as amended by the Study of 
Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 
2018 (SUCCESS Act). This action is necessary to address potential 
confusion for impacted entities that could result if these errors are 
not corrected. These corrections do not result in any substantive 
changes to the final rule.

DATES: The final rule correction is effective January 18, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: C. Brett Lockard, Director, 
Forecasting and Analysis Division, at 571-272-0928 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 18, 2024, the USPTO published a 
final rule setting or adjusting trademark fees as authorized by the 
AIA, as amended by the SUCCESS Act. See 89 FR 91062. Subsequent to the 
publication of that final rule, it was discovered that the rule 
inadvertently omitted applicable cross-references in 37 CFR 2.22(a)(6) 
and (9) and contained an incorrect cross-reference in Sec.  2.22(a)(8), 
which referenced a fee that did not apply. This correction amends these 
sections to provide the correct cross-references.
    Section 2.22 applies to all applications under section 1 and/or 44 
of the Trademark Act, which includes not only trademark and service 
mark applications, but also applications for collective, collective 
membership, and certification marks. However, the cross-references in 
Sec.  2.22(a)(6) and (9) referred only to Sec. Sec.  2.34 and 2.33, 
respectively, which set out the requirements for trademark and service 
mark applications. Sections 2.22(a)(6) and (9) each should have 
included cross-references to Sec. Sec.  2.44 and 2.45, which set forth 
the corresponding applicable requirements for collective, collective 
membership, and certification marks. This omission was unintentional 
and adding the applicable cross-references is not a substantive change 
to the final rule.
    As noted in the preamble of the final rule, the USPTO is 
implementing a single electronic filing option for all section 1 and/or 
44 applications, which includes collective and certification marks. 
Applicants choosing to comply with the base application requirements 
set forth in Sec.  2.22 will pay the lowest fees under the final fee 
schedule. Applicants were always subject to the requirements for 
collective, collective membership, and certification marks at 
Sec. Sec.  2.44 and 2.45, as applicable. The addition of these sections 
in Sec.  2.22(a)(6) and (9) do not impose any new limitations but 
provide clarity to applicants that the requirements for collective, 
collective membership, and certification marks apply. This correction 
amends the preamble and Sec.  2.22(a)(6) and (9) to add the 
inadvertently omitted cross-references.
    In addition, Sec.  2.22(a)(8) contained an incorrect cross-
reference to Sec.  2.6(a)(1)(ii), which is the fee for filing an 
application under section 66(a) of the Trademark Act and therefore does 
not apply to applications filed under section 1 and/or 44. This section 
should have cross-referenced only Sec.  2.6(a)(1)(iii), which provides 
for the applicable fee. This correction amends the preamble and Sec.  
2.22(a)(9) to remove the cross-reference to Sec.  2.6(a)(1)(ii).

Rulemaking Considerations

Administrative Procedure Act

    This final rule corrects inadvertent errors in a rulemaking setting 
and adjusting trademark fees. The changes in this final rule involve 
rules of agency

[[Page 3038]]

practice and procedure and/or interpretive rules and do not require 
notice-and-comment rulemaking. See Perez v. Mortg. Bankers Ass'n, 135 
S.Ct. 1199, 1204 (2015) (explaining that interpretive rules ``advise 
the public of the agency's construction of the statutes and rules which 
it administers'' and do not require notice-and-comment rulemaking when 
issued or amended); Cooper Techs. Co. v. Dudas, 536 F.3d 1330, 1336-37 
(Fed. Cir. 2008) (stating that 5 U.S.C. 553, and thus 35 U.S.C. 
2(b)(2)(B), do not require notice-and comment rulemaking for 
``interpretative rules, general statements of policy, or rules of 
agency organization, procedure, or practice''); and JEM Broadcasting 
Co. v. F.C.C., 22 F.3d 320, 328 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (explaining that rules 
are not legislative because they do not ``foreclose effective 
opportunity to make one's case on the merits'').
    Moreover, the Director of the USPTO, pursuant to authority at 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and (d)(1), finds good cause to adopt the changes in 
this final rule without prior notice and an opportunity for public 
comment or a 30-day delay in effectiveness, as such procedures would be 
unnecessary, impracticable, and contrary to the public interest. As 
discussed above, the changes in this rulemaking involve corrections of 
errors in the final rule published on November 18, 2024, (which itself 
underwent notice and comment rulemaking and a 30-day delay in effective 
date) that provide clarity and without imposing any new requirements. 
The corrections will provide clarity and address potential confusion 
that could result if these errors are not corrected prior to the 
effective date of the November 18, 2024, final rule. Therefore, good 
cause exists to dispense with the requirement for prior notice and an 
opportunity for public comment and a 30-day delay in effectiveness.

Correction

    In FR Doc. 2024-26644 appearing on page 91062 in the Federal 
Register of Monday, November 18, 2024, at 89 FR 91062, the following 
corrections are made:

0
1. On page 91069, in the second column, the 6th, 8th, and 9th bullets 
are corrected to read as follows:
     One or more bases for filing that satisfy all the 
requirements of Sec. Sec.  2.34, 2.44, or 2.45, as applicable. If more 
than one basis is set forth, the applicant must comply with the 
requirements of Sec. Sec.  2.34, 2.44, or 2.45 for each asserted basis, 
as applicable;
* * * * *
     A filing fee for each class of goods and/or services, as 
required by Sec.  2.6(a)(1)(iii);
     A verified statement that meets the requirements of 
Sec. Sec.  2.33, 2.44, or 2.45, as applicable, dated and signed by a 
person properly authorized to sign on behalf of the owner pursuant to 
Sec.  2.193(e)(1);

0
2. On page 91090, in the third column, in amendatory instruction 3, in 
Sec.  2.22, paragraphs (a)(6), (8), and (9) are corrected to read as 
follows:

Sec.  2.22  [Corrected]

    (a) * * *
    (6) One or more bases for filing that satisfy all the requirements 
of Sec. Sec.  2.34, 2.44, or 2.45, as applicable. If more than one 
basis is set forth, the applicant must comply with the requirements of 
Sec. Sec.  2.34, 2.44, or 2.45 for each asserted basis, as applicable;
* * * * *
    (8) A filing fee for each class of goods and/or services, as 
required by Sec.  2.6(a)(1)(iii);
    (9) A verified statement that meets the requirements of Sec.  2.33, 
Sec.  2.44, or Sec.  2.45, as applicable, dated and signed by a person 
properly authorized to sign on behalf of the owner pursuant to Sec.  
2.193(e)(1);
* * * * *

Derrick L. Brent,
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting 
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-00274 Filed 1-13-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
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