Trademark certificates have now gone digital! We know that this has been in the works for a while now, but it has finally happened.
We used to have to wait weeks and weeks for the trademark office to send out the trademark certificates, and then I would receive the trademark certificate, scan the trademark certificate into the client file, and then send the client the certificate via snail mail. All very 20th-century, right? Well, the trademark office has now joined the digital age, and is sending trademark certificates — just kidding! They’re not sending the certificates at all.
When your trademark registration issues, the United States Patent and Trademark Office sends an email to the Registrant or the Registrant’s attorney, saying basically, “Congratulations, your trademark has issued!” and telling the Registrant her trademark registration number. It’s then up to the Registrant or the Registrant’s attorney to go to the USPTO Trademark Search Portal, and then look up the new registration either by serial number or by registration number, and download the digital certificate. I do this for my clients, of course, so their digital certificate comes in the “Congratulations on your trademark registration!” email that I send to my clients, along with a video about the care and feeding of their new trademark. I also docket the trademark renewal dates, so that we don’t miss those, and I can notify the client when it’s time to renew their trademark.
As of May 24th, 2022, the USPTO is now digitally issuing all trademark certificates. This means that the trademark certificates come to you as a digital certificate, rather than the paper copies that they used to send all of the registrants. Personally, I like the digital copies. I mean, it’s nice to have a certificate suitable for framing, and you can still get that. I’ll go over that in a minute. But if you’re trying to get rid of paper in your life, and I think we all are, it’s great to have a digitally authenticated digital certificate. Here’s what the new certificate looks like, with the authentication in the upper left corner highlighted:
Note: This is not my client.
You can see the authentication there in the upper left corner, and then the QR code in the lower left corner, and the signature of the Director of the USPTO in the lower left corner. If you alter the trademark certificate, the authentication in the upper left corner disappears. If you watch the video at the start of this post, you’ll notice that at one point, the digital authentication in the upper left corner of the document disappears. This is because the document authentication applies only to the authenticated document, not any alterations. So when you send the downloaded digital certificate to a third party, the authentication mark is there only if it’s not altered. Again, this digital signature is the hallmark of authenticity for this certificate. So don’t be surprised if after you file your trademark application, you don’t get anymore a printed certificate in the mail. They are all digital.
I think it’s great that you don’t have to worry about losing it or even keeping it, because you can download it at any time from the US. Patent and Trademark Office website, just by going to the search tool and entering your trademark registration number or serial number.
Now, if you’re a fan of having something suitable for framing, you can still order a digital certificate from the Patent and Trademark Office for $25, and you can frame it and make it look really pretty. But if you don’t care about that and you’re happy with the digital certificate, this is great because you can download it at any time. You don’t have a physical certificate that you need to worry about losing. I love paper, but I also hate paper. It’s great, but it’s heavy and cumbersome and prone to loss and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes it inconvenient. So I really prefer the digital certificates because I think it makes it easier for trademark registrants to prove their rights because it’s digitally signed.
If you have trademark questions, please comment on my Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions in a future video.
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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.
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