Amendments to trademarks applications requested prior to examination

Publication date:

Amendment date: June 17, 2019

This practice notice provides guidance on requests to amend a trademark application received by the Office prior to the application being examined.

As a general rule, the Trademarks Office will not assess amendment requests received prior to examination. Upon receipt of correspondence in regards to a trademark application, the Formalities Section will identify any urgent requests or any requests that may affect the entitlement date and will forward those applications to the Examination Section for review. All other requests will be assessed when the application is examined, generally in the order in which it is filed. The following are examples of requests for amendments which will not be assessed prior to examination: clerical errors, amendments to the statement of goods or services, and amendments to the trademark.