INTA Board of Directors Adopts Board Resolution to Update Its Guidelines for Trademark Examination

San Diego, California—May 18, 2025—The International Trademark Association (INTA) voted to approve a resolution updating its Guidelines for Trademark Examination. The resolution was adopted during the May 2025 Board of Directors Meeting held yesterday in San Diego, California, during the Association’s 2025 Annual Meeting.

INTA’s Guidelines for Trademark Examination set essential standards for examining trademark applications, especially in jurisdictions with developing examination processes and in those seeking to modify existing requirements and procedures.

The Association and its committees use the Guidelines to provide advice, analysis, comments, recommendations, and training related to the examination of trademark applications. The Guidelines are also used by various INTA committees as a tool to advise and train intellectual property (IP) office staff in regions where procedural standards are lacking or problematic for mark registration.

Following significant amendments to the Guidelines in 2023, the Trademark Offices Practices Committee (TOPC) and the Non-Traditional Marks (NTMs) Committee formed a joint Committee Task Force to enhance the provisions in the Guidelines related to examination of NTMs.

“This group built on the efforts of the TOPC Examination Guidelines Subcommittee during the Association’s 2022-2023 committee term to update the Guidelines to enhance the sections related to registration of non-traditional trademarks,” shared Lynne Graybeal, a Partner at Perkins Coie (USA) and Chair of the Task Force.

The Task Force adopted a “best practices” approach to preparing the revised Guidelines rather than attempting to reconcile differences between jurisdictional approaches. Additional revisions were made to align IP office procedures with current technological capabilities. In addition, examples of the various types of non-traditional marks were added to illustrate the types of marks that are eligible for registration.

Czareena Dotchev, INTA Senior Strategist, Government Relations (USA), said, “The Task Force’s in-depth focus and due diligence have produced a document that will be useful to IP professionals and IP offices who are seeking guidance on registration of non-traditional marks.”

The revised Guidelines support NTM registration and adopt a positive tone regarding their distinctiveness and functionality. They offer detailed guidance for submitting evidence on acquired distinctiveness and address common issues faced by NTM applicants, such as maintaining priority across jurisdictions with varying mark description, representation, and categorization requirements. They also recommend allowing non-substantive amendments to application details to tackle jurisdictional differences.

Read the Board Resolution here.

About the International Trademark Association
The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and complementary intellectual property (IP) to foster consumer trust, economic growth, and innovation, and committed to building a better society through brands. Members include more than 6,700 organizations, representing more than 37,000 individuals (trademark owners, professionals, and academics) from 181 countries, who benefit from the Association’s global trademark resources, policy development, education and training, and international network. Founded in 1878, INTA is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Beijing, Brussels, Santiago, Singapore, and the Washington, D.C., Metro Area, and representatives in Amman, Nairobi, and New Delhi. For more information, visit inta.org.

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Media Contact:
Tracey Eyers
International Trademark Association
Senior Strategist, Communications
[email protected]