Higher Trademark Fees and Donald Trump: US Trademark Policy Updates in 2024, and What to Watch in 2025

Director and head of Sterne Kessler’s Trademark & Brand Protection Practice, Monica Riva Talley, sat down with World Trademark Review to discuss the United States’ biggest trademark policy and legislative updates of 2024 and what U.S. brand owners can expect in 2025. Topics included e-commerce platforms’ increased efforts to combat infringement, higher USPTO trademark fees, Donald Trump’s impending impact on trade, policy, and government spending, and SHOP SAFE and AI legislation.

“Problems persist across e-commerce in part because platform policies are ‘still lacking,’” says Monica. Some platforms “still have significant issues and have taken steps to make enforcement even more difficult,” Monica reports. “When it comes to collecting judgments, for example…and how they view counterfeits and knock-offs, I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

And improvement is possible. “Amazon has a lot of tools; they promote the tools and have a lot of collaboration with brand owners, which is a very different position from where it was a few years ago,” Monica states.

Regarding trademark fees, the USPTO consulted the public last year on increasing the fees for its trademark services and announced final changes that will come into effect on January 18, 2025. The office predicts a 27% year-on-year increase in trademark-associated revenue.

“On its face, the fees are fairly nominal, it’s not a huge adjustment,” says Monica. Additionally, applicants using free-form text boxes rather than the pre-set options will incur a $200 fee per class and a $100 fee per class for insufficient information. This “adds a larger burden on attorneys or filers,” says Monica. “We’re going to have to go back to ask [clients] a lot of annoying questions…[The challenge will be] messaging to clients that this is a requirement, we’re not being annoying,” she says.

Looking ahead to Trump’s second term, Monica says it may be good news for brand owners. “The last Trump administration was pro-innovation, and it did take a tougher line on trade with China, which I think are both good things for U.S. brand owners,” says Monica.