Eligible Applicants Under §44(e)

To be eligible for registration under §44(e), an applicant must

meet the following requirements:

(1) The applicant’s country of origin must be a party to a

treaty or agreement with the United States that provides for registration based on

ownership of a foreign registration, or must extend reciprocal registration rights to

nationals of the United States (

15 U.S.C.

§1126(b)

); and

(2) The applicant must be the owner of a valid registration

in the applicant’s country of origin

(

15 U.S.C.

§1126(c)

,

(e))

.

See

TMEP

§1002.04

regarding the applicant’s country of origin, and

§1002.03

and

Appendix B

for information about how to determine whether a particular

country is a party to a treaty or agreement, or provides reciprocal registration rights to

U.S. nationals.

If an applicant does not meet the requirements listed above,

the examining attorney must refuse registration under §44(e).

See

SARL Corexco v. Webid Consulting Ltd

., 110 USPQ2d 1587, 1590-91 (TTAB

2014). The applicant may amend the application to claim §1(a) or §1(b) as a basis. See

TMEP

§806.03

regarding amendment of the basis.

An applicant domiciled in the United States cannot obtain

registration under §44(e) unless the applicant is the owner of a registration from an

eligible country other than the United States and the applicant can establish that the

foreign country is the applicant’s country of origin.

See

TMEP §1002.05

.

See

TMEP

§§1004

-

1004.02

for additional

information about the requirements for registration under §44(e).