New Mailing Addresses for Paper Submissions of Trademark-Related Correspondence and Madrid Protocol Rules Change

The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("Office") is amending its rules to provide for new mailing addresses for trademark- related correspondence submitted on paper. The Office is also amending some of the rules that govern the submission of documents pursuant to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks ("Madrid Protocol") in the United States. Specifically, the Office is: Removing the requirement that international applications, subsequent designations, responses to notices of irregularity issued by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization ("IB"), and requests for transformation be filed through the Trademark Electronic Application System ("TEAS"); limiting the requirement that fees payable to the IB for international applications, subsequent designations, and requests to record changes of ownership in the International Register be paid at the time of submission only if the document is filed through TEAS; and designating new mailing addresses for trademark-related correspondence and paper-filed international applications, subsequent designations, responses to notices of irregularity, requests to record changes in the International Register, requests for transformation, and petitions to the Director to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit ("MPU").