A trademark register can impose a search cost when its listed goods and services overstate actual commercial use. That was the USPTO's economic rationale for its January 19, 2017 evidence rule: inaccurate entries create burdens for the public. The mechanism was additional proof in specified maintenance filings, rather than a general reduction in filing fees or an automatic removal of registrations. [2017-02796][2017-00317]

The rule expanded authority to request reasonably necessary information and specimens in section 8 continued-use or excusable-nonuse filings and section 71 use-in-commerce or excusable-nonuse filings. Its register-accuracy purpose sat alongside proper examination. This bounded scope matters because information about particular goods can change without treating every registration or every absence of use as equivalent. [2017-02796][2017-00317]

The agency's pilot supplied evidence of that distinction, not a national efficiency estimate. It randomly selected 500 registrations with section 8 or 71 affidavits and ultimately accepted affidavits for 422. Some acceptances followed deletion of queried goods or services. Thus, acceptance did not necessarily preserve the original competitive boundary implied by the goods list, and the figures did not measure fraud prevalence. [2017-02796][2017-00317]

The February 10 notice postponed effectiveness from February 17 to March 21, 2017. As of the coverage date, the additional authority was still prospective. The two documents establish an intended information-quality intervention and a revised schedule within one agency proceeding. Whether searches became cheaper or entry became easier would require outcome evidence beyond the agency's rationale and its bounded pilot findings. [2017-02796][2017-00317]

Source documents

  1. Changes in Requirements for Affidavits or Declarations of Use, Continued Use, or Excusable Nonuse in Trademark Caseshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-02-10/html/2017-02796.htm
  2. Changes in Requirements for Affidavits or Declarations of Use, Continued Use, or Excusable Nonuse in Trademark Caseshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-01-19/html/2017-00317.htm