Refund Policy

The Firm’s flat fee for trademark filing services is earned upon receipt. Outcomes at the USPTO are not refund events. The one situation in which the fee is credited toward a new application, the one in which we refund all of it because a conflict stops us taking your matter, and the situation in which Ohio law may entitle you to a refund are all described below.

If the attorney determines your mark is unregistrable

During attorney review, the reviewing attorney may determine that your proposed mark cannot be registered as you’ve described it (for example, because the mark is generic, merely descriptive without sufficient secondary meaning, or otherwise unable to function as a trademark).

In that case the review is the work you paid our fee for, and it reached an answer. That fee stays earned, and it moves to a new application for a different mark: you don’t pay it again, and there is no deadline on it. Give the attorney a short list of your alternatives and they’ll guide you toward the one most likely to register.

The USPTO’s portion works differently. We never filed, so we never paid it to the government, and you choose what happens to it: we refund it to the card you paid with, or we hold it on your file toward the next mark. Tell us which. If three months go by and we haven’t heard from you, we refund it to your original payment method without waiting to be asked, rather than let it sit here while you decide.

If a conflict means we can’t take your matter

We check for conflicts before your attorney starts work. It’s possible we already represent someone whose interests conflict with yours, and if we do, we can’t take your matter. In that case nothing has been done for you, so nothing has been earned: we tell you, and we refund everything you paid, our fee and the USPTO fee both, to the card you paid with.

Otherwise, fees are earned upon receipt

Outside of the unregistrable-mark and conflict scenarios above, our flat fee is non-refundable once you have submitted and paid. Specifically:

• If the USPTO refuses your application after filing (for example because of a likelihood-of-confusion finding, descriptiveness refusal, or other substantive ground), that is part of the normal trademark process. We will discuss options with you, including a possible office action response (quoted separately) or a refined re-application.
• Changed your mind after review started? Tell us. We keep the value of the work already done and return the rest, including every dollar of the USPTO fee we haven’t yet paid to the USPTO. Once we’ve filed, the work is done.
• If the USPTO issues an office action, that is part of the normal trademark process, not a refund event. One administrative office action response is included in our flat fee; substantive responses are quoted separately.

If we don’t finish the work

Ohio’s Rules of Professional Conduct require us to say this plainly: if we do not complete the services you paid for, for any reason (for example, you end the engagement before we file, or we have to withdraw), you may be entitled to a refund of all or part of the fee based on the value of the work done up to that point. Email us and we’ll work it out promptly.

USPTO government fees

Our flat fee includes the USPTO filing fee, shown as its own line on your receipt, and we pay it to the USPTO when we file. It’s part of one flat fee, earned when you pay it, so we don’t hold it in a trust account. What we promise about that portion is this.

Until we file, you choose what happens to that portion: we refund it in full to the card you paid with, within ten business days and without your having to give a reason, or we hold it on your file toward your next application. Tell us which.

If three months go by and we haven’t heard from you, we refund it to your original payment method without waiting to be asked. If you do choose to hold it, it sits on your file until you use it, and you can ask for it back at any time.

Once we pay the fee to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at filing, the government does not refund it, and we can’t recover it for you.

How to ask for a credit or your money back

Reply to any email we have sent you about the matter, or write to us through the Contact page with your application reference (the docket like GU-7186). One line is enough. We’ll reply within three business days.