Home » Trademark Law Updates » New Statutes, Regulations and Rules » Current Summary
Trademark Law Summary
Amendments to Rules Implementing the Fastener Quality Act of 1999
Docket No. 070404076–7077–01, RIN 0693–AB57, 15 CFR Part 280, 06/04/2007
Basic Information
The Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), together with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce, has issued these amended rules that put into effect the Fastener Quality Act of 1999. These implementing rules provide that “all documents submitted in connection with the recordal of fastener insignia must be mailed to a particular postal box maintained by the USPTO.” This final rule was supposed to take effect on June 4, 2007.
By way of a background, the Fastener Quality Act of 1999, Public Law 101–592 (as amended by Pub. L. 104–113, Pub. L. 105–234 and Pub. L. 106–34) requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program for the recordation of the identifying insignia of certain fasteners. The rules set forth at Subpart D of 15 CFR 280.300 et seq. accordingly provide for a recordation system, and that system is maintained at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). One of the rules, 15 CFR 280.310(d), provides that “all documents pertaining to recordation must be mailed to a particular postal box maintained” by the USPTO in Arlington, VA. A second rule, Section 280.323(a), requires copies of documentation of transfers or assignments of trademark applications or registrations which form the basis of a recorded insignia be sent to a postal box in Washington, DC.
According to the Department of Commerce, “the efficiency of the insignia recordation program will be enhanced if documents submitted in connection with the program are mailed to a postal box that is at the USPTO’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Accordingly, Sections 280.300 et seq. are amended to provide that these documents be mailed to that postal box.”
This amended rule revised section 280.310 of Application for Insignia, and section 280.323, Transfer or Assignment of the Trademark Registration or Recorded Insignia, to identify the postal box to which all documents pertaining to recordation should be sent. In line with this revision, the United States Postal Service has provided a separate routing +4 zip code to distinguish mail relating to the Fastener Quality Act (FQA) from other USPTO mail, and all such correspondence should now be sent to the USPTO’s main headquarters, addressed with the separate routing +4 zip code.
View a PDF of the article.Service
Link to this article · 
Send via E-mail · 
Printable Version (opens in new window)
