For foreign trademark firms

For Foreign Trademark Firms

If your firm sends U.S.-bound trademark work, here are the foreign-associate rates, turnaround commitments, and a conflict-to-filing workflow.

Foreign-associate rates

Rates assume complete, accurate instructions and ordinary complexity. Anything outside that is quoted in writing before substantive work proceeds.

New applications
Conflict check
No charge
Section 1(b), 44(d), or 44(e) application - first class
USPTO $350 per class, pre-funded before filing.
$995
Each additional class
USPTO $350 per class, pre-funded before filing.
$300
Comprehensive U.S. clearance opinion
Search-vendor charges billed at cost without markup.
$750 first class
Clearance opinion - additional class
$200
Application plus comprehensive clearance
USPTO $350 per class, pre-funded before filing.
$1,595 first class
Prosecution
Section 66(a) refusal assessment
$350, credited toward response if retained
Non-substantive office-action response
$650
Likelihood-of-confusion responsequoted in writing
$1,750-$3,500
Descriptiveness / geographic refusal responsequoted in writing
$1,500-$3,000
Specimen refusal responsequoted in writing
$950-$2,000
Final-refusal strategy assessment
$500
Consent / coexistence agreementquoted in writing
starting at $1,500
Three-month response extension
USPTO $125 per class, billed at cost.
$250 plus $125 USPTO fee
Post-filing and maintenance
Statement of use
USPTO $150 per class.
$400
Six-month SOU extension
USPTO $125 per class.
$250
Section 8 declaration
USPTO $325 per class.
$500
Combined Sections 8 and 15
USPTO $575 per class.
$650
Combined Sections 8 and 9
USPTO $650 per class.
$750
Assignment recordation
Pass-through if applicable.
starting at $450
Change of owner / address / representation
If applicable.
starting at $250
TTAB proceedings: oppositions and cancellations
Extension of time to oppose
USPTO $200 per class (first or second request) or $400 per class (final request), billed at cost.
$250 plus USPTO fee
Notice of opposition - filing
USPTO $600 per class, pre-funded before filing.
$850
Petition to cancel - filing
USPTO $600 per class, pre-funded before filing.
$850
Answer to opposition or petition to cancel
$750
Discovery - requests, responses, and disclosuresquoted in writing
$1,500-$5,000 per discovery phase
Motion practicequoted in writing
$1,750-$4,500 per motion
Trial briefquoted in writing
$2,500-$6,000
Oral hearing before the Board
USPTO $500, billed at cost.
$750 plus USPTO fee
Proceeding management, all phases
$350/month while pending
Volume terms

Available after 5 successfully completed matters. At that point, $850 first class in a month with 5 or more clean applications.

  • Five or more clean applications in a calendar month.
  • Consolidated monthly invoicing may be offered after payment history is established.
  • Government fees remain pre-funded before filing.
  • Not retroactive. May be suspended if volume, scope, payment history, or matter complexity changes.
Terms
  • Government charges, translations, investigators, search vendors, and foreign-counsel expenses are billed separately without markup unless a separate written arrangement says otherwise.
  • Government fees must be funded in cleared funds before filing.
  • Rates assume complete and accurate instructions, standard identification language, and ordinary ownership, specimen, priority, domicile, and filing-basis facts.
  • Complicated ownership, specimen, priority, deadline, sanctions, or filing-basis issues will be quoted before substantive work proceeds.
  • Work received within five U.S. business days of a deadline carries a 25% legal-fee surcharge, subject to availability.
  • Work received within two U.S. business days of a deadline is subject to availability and a separate quote.
  • A new conflict check is required before any TTAB opposition or cancellation is opened, even for an existing client.
  • No registration or outcome is guaranteed, and no outcome is guaranteed in a TTAB proceeding.

Rush: within 5 U.S. business days of a deadline, 25% on the legal fee, subject to availability. Within 2 business days, subject to availability and a separate quote. may be declined if competent completion is not reasonably possible.

Official fees are USPTO electronic fees verified 2026-08-22. Current USPTO fee schedule ↗

Set up your firm

Tell me who you are and your firm will be set up for matter tracking and invoicing, usually within one U.S. business day.

This sets your firm up for matter tracking and invoicing — the rates above are already public.

What the arrangement is

  • The trademark owner is the U.S. client. You remain the referring lawyer, and may act as third-party payor and liaison with the client's authorization.
  • No unrelated services are marketed to your client during an active referred matter without your consent.
  • No credentials are shared or accepted in either direction, and no filing is made without direct attorney review.
  • Professional liability insurance is not currently carried. This is stated here rather than at signature.

Service commitments

Stated as targets, because that is what they are. What is guaranteed is the attorney review, not the clock.

  • Target conflict-check turnaround: within one U.S. business day after receipt of complete conflict names.
  • Target application-draft turnaround: within three U.S. business days after complete intake, subject to complexity and deadline.
  • Every substantive filing receives direct review by U.S. counsel.
  • The foreign associate remains included in communications at the client's direction.
  • No unrelated services will be marketed directly to a referred client during an active referred matter without the referring firm's consent, except where direct communication is required by professional obligations or the client requests otherwise.
  • No U.S. attorney credentials are shared with foreign firms, vendors, or clients for unsupervised use, and none will be accepted from them.

Who you are dealing with

  • Eric Adar Carver, Attorney at Law, California Bar No. 347496, verifiable on the State Bar's own page.
  • Sole practitioner. No professional corporation, partnership, or other entity, and no associate layer between your instructions and the person who files.
  • Professional liability (malpractice) insurance is not currently carried; stated here rather than at signature, as Rule 1.4.2 requires it be disclosed in writing.
  • No USPTO credentials are shared with foreign firms, vendors, or clients, and none are accepted from them.

Verify California Bar No. 347496 ↗

If you have a matter now

Don't wait for the desk. Send party names and a high-level description through the conflict check (no documents until it clears), and the desk can be set up alongside the matter rather than before it.

Request a conflict check

Or read the U.S. filing checklist for foreign firms: the ownership, domicile, Section 44 priority, specimen, and Madrid-refusal points that cause most avoidable U.S. problems.