To change your attorney of record at the USPTO, file the Change Address or Representation (CAR) Form through Trademark Center for a trademark matter, or a power-of-attorney form (most commonly PTO/AIA/82) through Patent Center for a patent matter. Neither filing carries a government fee. The change takes effect only once the USPTO processes it, so until then every office action, notice, and deadline reminder still goes to whoever is currently listed.
Trademark or Patent: Two Different Systems
The USPTO treats patent and trademark representation as separate regimes with their own rules, forms, and filing portals. Start by identifying which side your matter sits on.
- Trademark matters use the CAR Form filed through Trademark Center. The same form handles appointing a new attorney, revoking a current one, updating correspondence details, or any combination.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
- Patent applications filed on or after September 16, 2012 use form PTO/AIA/82 to appoint one or more registered practitioners, PTO/AIA/81 to appoint a joint inventor as representative, and PTO/AIA/80 to revoke. These go through Patent Center.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Power of Attorney – Naming Representative
- Patent applications filed before September 16, 2012 use the older PTO/SB/80 or PTO/SB/81 forms.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Power of Attorney – Naming Representative
Trademark Center is now the only electronic filing system for trademark matters at the USPTO.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Center Updates and Training Either portal requires a USPTO.gov account with two-step authentication and verified identity before you can file.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
Filing the CAR Form for a Trademark
Before opening the form, pull together the trademark serial number (eight digits: a two-digit series code plus six digits assigned in filing order), the new attorney’s full legal name and firm name, the state where that attorney is admitted and active, the correspondence email address that will receive future notices, and the current owner or applicant name exactly as it appears in USPTO records. The new attorney must be a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a U.S. state or territory.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Hiring a U.S.-Licensed Attorney
The CAR Form lets you revoke a current attorney and appoint a new one in a single submission. If the owner’s email on file is outdated and you cannot reach them through the form’s authorization dropdown, the USPTO recommends splitting the action: first submit a CAR Form as the owner revoking the previous attorney, then submit a second filing to add the new one.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
Who Can Sign
Signing authority depends on what the form is doing, and this is where most rejections happen.
To revoke all previously appointed attorneys, the signer must be the individual applicant or registrant, or someone with authority to legally bind a business entity (a corporate officer, a general partner, or the equivalent). The outgoing attorney cannot sign this type of revocation, and neither can the incoming attorney. In-house counsel cannot sign unless they also hold an officer-level role that gives them authority to bind the entity.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
The current attorney of record can sign in narrower situations: adding or removing associate attorneys, adding bar information to the record, or making an appearance for a previously unrepresented applicant. If the original primary attorney has left the firm but another appointed attorney remains on record, that remaining attorney can use the form to step into the primary role and add new associates.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
For joint applicants or joint registrants, all must sign.5eCFR. 37 CFR 2.17 – Recognition for Representation
Filing a Power of Attorney for a Patent
Patent power-of-attorney changes work through a set of forms rather than a single multipurpose one. The most common scenario, appointing a new registered patent practitioner, uses the PTO/AIA/82 series. The transmittal (PTO/AIA/82A) captures the application number, filing date, first-named inventor, title of invention, art unit, examiner name, and attorney docket number. The power-of-attorney form itself (PTO/AIA/82B) is where the applicant makes the appointment, either by linking to a Customer Number or by listing up to ten practitioners by name and registration number on form PTO/AIA/82C.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. PTO/AIA/82A – Transmittal for Power of Attorney
The applicant must also indicate their status (inventor, legal representative of a deceased inventor, assignee, or person with a proprietary interest) and provide a correspondence address. If the applicant is a business entity, a person authorized to act on its behalf must sign.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. PTO/AIA/82A – Transmittal for Power of Attorney
Customer Numbers and the Ten-Practitioner Cap
Many patent practitioners link representation to a Customer Number rather than listing individual names. When attorneys join or leave a firm, updating the practitioners tied to a Customer Number changes representation across every linked application at once. Through Patent Center, practitioners can create new Customer Numbers or update existing ones by adding or removing registration numbers.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patent Center User Guide
A patent power of attorney can name no more than ten registered practitioners. If the document lists more than ten, it must include a separate paper specifying which ten the USPTO should recognize as being of record.8eCFR. 37 CFR 1.32 – Power of Attorney The USPTO does not recognize powers of attorney naming law firms; you must name individual practitioners.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Power of Attorney – Naming Representative
Signing and Submitting
Both systems accept electronic signatures in what the USPTO calls s-signature format. You type your name between two forward slashes, for example /Jane R. Doe/, and the system treats it as a binding signature under 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2). The signature can include letters, numbers, spaces, commas, periods, apostrophes, and hyphens, but nothing else. The person identified as the signer must personally insert the signature.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Signatures 37 CFR 1.4 – Section: S-Signatures Requirements 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2)
After you sign, the portal runs a validation check for missing fields. Submit, and wait for the confirmation screen with a unique confirmation number and time-stamped summary. Save that receipt; it is your proof of filing date. There is no government fee for filing a change of representation in either system.
If You Live Outside the United States
Foreign-domiciled applicants must have a U.S.-licensed attorney for all trademark matters. You cannot proceed without one, and you must keep your domicile address current in your trademark filings so the USPTO can determine whether this rule applies to you.10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Do I Need an Attorney? If your U.S. attorney relationship ends, appointing a replacement is a prerequisite for any further filing, not an optional step. The CAR Form handles that appointment.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Correspondence and Attorney/Domestic Representative Forms
When Your Attorney Wants to Withdraw
Client-initiated change of representation is not the same as attorney-initiated withdrawal, and different forms and rules apply. For trademarks, the withdrawing practitioner must satisfy the ethical obligations in 37 CFR 11.116 and obtain approval from the USPTO Director (or the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board if a proceeding is pending). The client must be notified at least two months before any pending response deadline, and the withdrawal request itself must include the serial or registration number, the reason for withdrawal, and confirmations that the practitioner notified the client, delivered file materials, and identified upcoming deadlines.11eCFR. 37 CFR 2.19 – Revocation or Withdrawal of Attorney
For patents, a registered practitioner may withdraw upon approval by the Director. If the power of attorney is linked to a Customer Number, a request to remove all practitioners from the record can be denied when an office action deadline is approaching and insufficient time remains for the applicant to respond.12eCFR. 37 CFR 1.36 – Revocation of Power of Attorney – Withdrawal of Patent Attorney or Agent The departing practitioner must give reasonable notice, hand over all papers and property the client is entitled to, and inform the client of pending deadlines and response windows.13United States Patent and Trademark Office. Withdrawal of Attorney or Agent
After You File
Once the USPTO processes the change, future correspondence goes exclusively to the new representative. The previous attorney stops receiving notifications. Verify the update in the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system for trademark matters or in Patent Center for patents.14United States Patent and Trademark Office. Checking the Status of a Trademark Application or Registration Check the record within a week to confirm the attorney name, correspondence email, and mailing address all transferred correctly.
Here is the risk of delay: if the old representative’s information stays on file because the change was never filed, or was filed with an error that stopped processing, the next office action may go somewhere no one is watching. The deadline passes, and the application goes abandoned. Reviving an abandoned trademark application through a petition based on unintentional delay costs $250 electronically or $350 on paper, plus the underlying office action response and a signed statement from someone with firsthand knowledge that the missed deadline was unintentional.15United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule16United States Patent and Trademark Office. Petition to Revive Abandoned Application – Failure to Respond Timely to Office Action Filing the CAR Form or the patent power-of-attorney paperwork the same week the attorney relationship changes is the simplest way to avoid that outcome.