Here at the Trademarkology blog, we tend to focus on the lighter side of trademark law. We leave the boring stuff to the other trademark blogs (just kidding ... sort of). Since we're in the trademark biz, however, we do pay attention when our supreme overlords at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issue reports.

Recently, the agency issued its Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2014. Or, in government parlance, the USPTO issued its PAR for FY 2014, which reminds me of this classic scene from "Good Morning, Vietnam":

The 179-page behemoth of a report is available for download by clicking here.

[caption id="attachment_4891" align="aligncenter" width="411"]

OMG, it's the USPTO PAR for FY 2014[/caption]

The big news for trademark lawyers is the proposed fee reduction for filing electronic trademark applications and renewals of registrations. Details can be found in the USPTO's Notice of Proposed Rule Making, which provides that the fee for an application filed using the regular TEAS application form will be reduced from $325 to $275 per class if the applicant authorizes email communication and agrees to file all responses and other documents electronically during the prosecution of the application. This option will be known as a TEAS Reduced Fee ("TEAS RF") application. The USPTO also proposes to reduce by $50 the fee for a TEAS Plus application from $275 to $225 per class and reduce by $100 the fee for a TEAS application for renewal of a registration from $400 to $300 per class. Implementation is scheduled for next month.

The report is also chock full of statistics about trademark examining activities. Here's a summary:

If you like trademark trivia (which we do), then here are some more stats to feast your eyes on:

Can't get enough of trademark trivia? Need to load up on random bits of information for the holiday party circuit? Then go check out our Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Trademarkology.

Please vote for Trademarkology in the ABA Journal's 8th Annual Blawg 100 by clicking here!

The lawyers at Trademarkology provide trademark registration services backed by the experience and service of one of the nation's oldest law firms. Click here to begin the process of protecting your brand name with a federally registered trademark.