Attorney Steve® Trademark College® - International Trademark Law

Trademark rule requires foreign-domiciled applicants and registrants to have a U.S.-licensed attorney

According to the USPTO website:

"Foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants, and parties to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, including Canadian trademark filers, must appoint and be represented before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by an attorney who is licensed to practice law in the United States. See more about foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants, and parties. U.S.-licensed attorneys representing any trademark filers must provide all of the following: Name, postal address, and email address Statement confirming to their active membership in good standing of a bar of the highest court of a U.S. state, Commonwealth, or territory Bar membership information (state, bar number if applicable, and year of admission)........A significant number of trademark offices around the world require foreign-domiciled applicants and registrants to obtain local counsel as a condition for filing papers with those trademark offices. In order to ameliorate the abuse of the U.S. trademark registration system, we are now requiring U.S. counsel representation as a condition for foreign-domiciled applicants, registrants, and parties to file papers with the USPTO, as well."

Another service a non-US based company may need is a United States Lawyer to respond to USPTO office action letters.

Watch Attorney Steve® discuss how to respond to USPTO office action letters

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Who is considered “foreign-domiciled”?

"A “foreign-domiciled” trademark applicant, registrant, or party is one who does not have a domicile in the United States or its territories. An individual's domicile is the place the person resides and intends to be the person's principal home. An entity's domicile is its principal place of business (headquarters) where the entity's senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity's activities."

Contact a United States Trademark Lawyer

We have offices in Los Angeles (Santa Monica), San Francisco, San Diego, Orange County (Newport Beach), and Phoenix, Arizona.  We have helped many companies with complex copyright and trademark issues in the United States including registering trademarks, copyright infringement matters, cease and desist letters, DMCA agents, software audit defense of Vero software, Siemens, Business Software Alliance, and other intellectual property matters. 

Contact us at (877) 276-5084 or leave a message through our contact form.