Review and accept the Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement (Ambit, a service of Montague Law PLLC)

Thank you for choosing Ambit. Ambit is a flat-fee trademark registration service of Montague Law PLLC (the "Firm"), a Kentucky law firm. These Terms of Engagement, together with the package you selected at sign-up, form the agreement between the Firm and the Client for the services described below. The "Client" is the person or entity that owns or will own the trademark, as identified in your questionnaire and, if the correct owner is determined during the engagement to be a different person or entity, as finally named in the application. "You" refers to the Client, and, where the context concerns signing, the questionnaire, payment, or communications, to the person acting for the Client. Ambit is a real law firm engagement. The work is performed by a licensed attorney, and the Client's relationship with the Firm is an attorney-client relationship, formed as Section 1 describes.

1. Your engagement is subject to our conflicts check

Signing these terms and submitting payment forms your engagement with the Firm, subject to our conflicts check. Like every law firm, we must confirm that representing you does not create a conflict of interest with our other clients. We complete that check after you submit your questionnaire.

You agree to answer the questionnaire completely and truthfully, and to tell us promptly if other names, entities, or relationships relevant to a conflict come to light later in the engagement.

If the check identifies a conflict, or other information emerges in the check or your questionnaire that prevents us from proceeding, and the Firm declines the engagement, then the engagement, and any attorney-client relationship formed by your signing, is void. We will tell you promptly, no work will be performed, and everything you paid will be refunded in full. Even in that event, the information you provided remains confidential in accordance with Kentucky's legal ethics rules.

2. What your package includes

All packages cover one trademark and one application, filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Attorney work and the USPTO filing fee are included for one class of goods or services in every package. The USPTO's per-class filing fee ($350) applies to every class. Your included filing fee is collected at sign-up. If your goods or services span more than one class, each additional class is $350 in attorney fees plus the USPTO's per-class filing fee, and those amounts are determined and collected as Section 2A provides. If we ultimately file in fewer classes than you have paid for, the unused USPTO filing fees are refunded to you from trust. Any search and assessment included in your package cover the goods or services in the one class included at sign-up. Your attorney may check more broadly as a courtesy, but the Firm's search obligation is limited to the classes you have purchased at the time of the search.

• Essentials ($995 attorney fee). Essentials covers an attorney-run knockout search of the USPTO's federal register and a graded, written risk assessment signed by your attorney. If your assessment is high-risk, it adds one free second knockout search and assessment on a different mark, if requested within 30 days. It also covers review of your specimen, preparation and filing of your application with goods and services descriptions drafted from the USPTO ID Manual, monitoring of the application through registration, responses to non-substantive USPTO office actions (see Section 3), plain-English status updates at every USPTO event, up to 15 minutes of attorney call time, and the registration kit at issuance. Essentials includes only basic checks; it does not include the deeper pre-filing analysis described in Standard, and at sign-up you will be asked to acknowledge that difference. If requested by the Firm in its discretion, you agree to further acknowledge Essentials' limited scope in writing before any work is done.
• Established Brand ($1,095 attorney fee). Established Brand is for a mark already in use in your business, and it is filed on an in-use basis only. It does not include a search or risk assessment; before any work is done, you must sign a written acknowledgment that no search was performed by the Firm (unless one was separately engaged) and that you accept the risk of refusals or conflicts a search might have identified. Established Brand covers an ownership check against the facts you provide; a review of your use in commerce, including whether your sales support a federal filing, with your first-use dates documented; review of the facts before filing, with goods and services descriptions drafted to the line and limited to what you can genuinely support; specimen and ornamental-use review and counseling; and a descriptiveness review, which, if we deem it appropriate and the best strategy, includes claiming acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f) in the application by citing a qualifying prior registration or by preparing and filing a verified statement based on your substantially exclusive and continuous use of the mark. It also covers preparation and filing of your application, monitoring through registration, responses to non-substantive USPTO office actions (see Section 3), plain-English status updates at every USPTO event, up to 15 minutes of attorney call time, and the registration kit at issuance. A knockout or clearance search may be added as a separately engaged focused service.
• Standard ($1,795 attorney fee). Everything in Essentials, plus a pre-filing analysis: a broader search across federal, state, common-law, and domain sources with a written assessment; an ownership check against the facts you provide; a lawful-use screen; a descriptiveness review that, where we deem it appropriate and the best strategy, includes claiming acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f) in the application by citing a qualifying prior registration or by preparing and filing a verified statement based on your substantially exclusive and continuous use of the mark; an audit of your use in commerce, including whether your sales support a federal filing; filing-basis and timing strategy; intent-to-use counseling and review of your intent documentation; review of the facts before filing, with goods and services cut back to what is actually true and first-use dates documented; specimen and ornamental-use counseling; drawing and mark-format strategy; goods and services descriptions drafted to the line, with narrowing amendments during prosecution included; and up to 45 minutes of attorney counsel, usually at the assessment review.
• Premium ($2,595 attorney fee). Everything in Standard, plus the deepest file and the most attorney time: secure storage of your intent-to-use records and interstate sales records for the life of the engagement (we keep them safe, you own them, and we send them to you or anyone you designate whenever you ask, as Section 13 provides); one Statement of Use filing included on intent-to-use applications (see Section 4); one response to a substantive office action included (see Section 3); and up to 75 minutes of attorney counsel, split across sessions before and after filing.

How attorney counsel time works. Each package includes the counsel time stated in its description (15 minutes in Essentials and Established Brand, up to 45 minutes in Standard, up to 75 minutes in Premium), by telephone or video at your attorney's direction, and the larger allowance takes the place of the smaller; they do not stack. Email communication with your attorney is part of every package. Whether and when calls or sessions occur is determined by your attorney in their professional judgment, informed by your input and the needs of your filing. Your attorney may determine that your matter needs more communication than your package lists, at no additional charge. You agree to make yourself reasonably available for the communications your attorney determines the filing needs. Any calls or video sessions may be recorded at our discretion, and you consent to the recording of audio and video communications.

Additional classes. Each class beyond the one included in your package is $350 in attorney fees plus the USPTO's per-class filing fee, determined and collected as Section 2A provides.

2A. How your class count is set. You do not choose a class count at sign-up, and you do not need to. The number of classes will be determined by you based on your questionnaire and, for Essentials, Standard, and Premium, your search results. After you receive your risk assessment, or after the Firm completes its Established Brand pre-filing review, and before anything is filed, your attorney will confirm with you the classes the application should cover. If that is more than the one class included in your package, we will state the additional amount ($350 in attorney fees plus the $350 USPTO filing fee for each additional class), collect it into trust, and file only after it is received. If the review supports filing in some classes but not others, you may instruct us to file only in the classes you choose, and you pay only for the classes we file. Nothing is filed, and no additional class fee is owed, until you give your go-ahead. For Established Brand, which includes no search or assessment, your attorney confirms the classes with you after reviewing your questionnaire, any additional class amounts are collected into trust, and the Firm files when the application is ready.

Focused services. By arrangement, typically following a consultation with the attorney, the Firm also offers three standalone services under these same terms.

• Knockout search. An attorney-run knockout search of the federal register and a risk assessment for one mark, on the same terms as Section 8. The fee is $795, covering up to three classes of goods or services. Each class beyond three adds $150 in attorney fees. Scopes beyond eight classes are unusual and are quoted before you commit. If your questionnaire shows more than three classes, we will state the additional amount and collect it before the search begins. No application is prepared or filed, and the high-risk paths in Section 9 do not apply, because there is no filing portion or USPTO fee to refund. The engagement concludes when the assessment is delivered. The fee is earned half when your attorney reviews the search results and half when your written assessment is sent. There are no search-vendor or other pass-through fees unless otherwise communicated to you by us.
• Clearance search & analysis. An attorney-run search for one mark (the U.S. federal and state registers plus common-law sources) and a risk assessment, on the same terms as Section 8. The fee is $1,595, covering up to three classes of goods or services. Each class beyond three adds $200 in attorney fees. Scopes beyond eight classes are unusual and are quoted before you commit. If your questionnaire shows more than three classes, we will state the additional amount and collect it before the search begins. No application is prepared or filed, and the high-risk paths in Section 9 do not apply, because there is no filing portion or USPTO fee to refund. The engagement concludes when the assessment is delivered. The fee is earned half when your attorney reviews the search results and half when your written assessment is sent. There are no search-vendor or other pass-through fees unless otherwise communicated to you by us.
• Trademark application ($795 attorney fee). Preparation and filing of one application for one mark, on an in-use or intent-to-use basis, with attorney work included for one class (additional classes subject to the attorney and USPTO fees described above). The USPTO's per-class filing fee applies to every class, and one class's fee is collected at sign-up. This service does not include a search or risk assessment. It is prepared at the same limited vetting level as an Essentials application, minus the knockout search. It does not include the fuller pre-filing analysis described in Standard. Before filing, you must sign a written acknowledgment that no knockout search was performed by the Firm (unless one was separately engaged) and that you accept the risk of refusals or conflicts a search might have identified. Responses to non-substantive office actions (Section 3) are included. Other USPTO correspondence after filing, including substantive office actions, is additional work under Section 6 unless we agree otherwise in writing. The attorney fee is earned $395 when the Firm reviews your questionnaire and the remaining $400 when we file.

Focused-service payments are deposited and handled through trust as in Section 5, and every other section of these terms applies to focused-service engagements, adjusted for their narrower scope. No attorney call or video time is included with any focused service. Your attorney may require a call or video session if one is needed to perform the service, and you agree to make yourself reasonably available for it.

Acquired distinctiveness, what is and is not included. Where a package includes descriptiveness review, the included work is limited to determining whether a claim of acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f) appears appropriate and, if we deem it the best strategy, asserting that claim in the application by citing a qualifying prior registration or by preparing and filing a verified statement based on your substantially exclusive and continuous use. No package includes assessing whether other evidence of acquired distinctiveness or secondary meaning may exist, or collecting, preparing, or filing any such other evidence (for example sales and advertising records, customer declarations, or surveys), whether with the application or in response to an office action. In the Premium package, the one included substantive office-action response may assert or maintain a Section 2(f) claim on the same limited basis; any other evidence of acquired distinctiveness is additional work under Section 6.

Not included in any package. The following are outside every package: responses to substantive office actions (except the one included in Premium, per Section 3); Statement of Use and extension filings (except the Statement of Use included in Premium, per Section 4); disputes with third parties; opposition, cancellation, or other proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board; enforcement or defense of your mark; filings outside the United States; post-registration maintenance or renewal filings; and other work or activities not specifically and expressly covered by the package in these Terms of Engagement. Anything outside your package is "additional work," available only if we agree to it in writing and governed by Sections 6 and 7.

3. Office actions (what's included and what isn't)

An office action is a formal letter from the USPTO's examining attorney refusing or objecting to something in your application. Office actions fall into two categories under these terms.

• Non-substantive office actions raise administrative or procedural issues, such as a required disclaimer, an amendment to the identification or classification of your goods or services, a specimen formality issue (a specimen refusal that cannot be cured with a valid substitute is treated as substantive), or an examiner's amendment. Responses to these are included in every package.
• Substantive office actions raise merits-based refusals, such as a likelihood-of-confusion refusal over an existing mark, a descriptiveness or genericness refusal, or another refusal going to whether your mark can be registered at all. Responses to these are not included, except for the one response included in Premium. They are additional work under Section 6, sometimes quoted as a flat fee once we see the refusal, and sometimes on an hourly basis, determined at our discretion. Any such additional work is optional and must be agreed in writing by you and the Firm before the Firm will perform the work.

Whether a particular office action is substantive or non-substantive is determined by your attorney in their professional judgment.

4. If you're not using the mark yet (intent-to-use applications)

Established Brand is not available for intent-to-use filings. If you are not yet using your mark in commerce, we can still file now under another package, on an intent-to-use basis. But registration cannot issue until you actually use the mark and the USPTO accepts a later filing called a Statement of Use. That filing carries its own fees, which are currently a $550 attorney fee for one class, plus $350 in attorney fees for each additional class, plus the USPTO's current $150 filing fee per class (all such fees subject to possible change in the future). The Statement of Use attorney fee is already included in Premium. For Essentials and Standard it is additional work under Section 6. If you need more time to start using the mark, extension requests are available in six-month increments (currently a flat $265 attorney fee per extension request regardless of the number of classes, plus the USPTO's current $125 per-class fee, both fees subject to possible change in the future), and extensions are additional work under every package. The first Statement of Use or extension request is due six months after the USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance; up to five extensions are available; and the outside limit is three years from the Notice of Allowance, after which the application is abandoned. The USPTO's fees for these filings are your responsibility in every package.

5. What you pay at sign-up, and how your money is handled

At sign-up you pay your package's attorney fee plus the $350 USPTO filing fee for the one class included in every package. The Essentials package's attorney fee is $995; the Established Brand package's attorney fee is $1,095; the Standard package's attorney fee is $1,795; and the Premium package's attorney fee is $2,595. Your entire payment is deposited into the Firm's IOLTA client trust account. It is not the Firm's money when you pay it. Funds are earned by, or spent for, you as follows.

• The search and assessment portion of your attorney fee is earned in two stages: half when your attorney reviews your search results, and half when we deliver your written risk assessment, whatever the assessment concludes. For Essentials, that is $345 and then $350; for Standard and Premium, $525 and then $525.
• The filing portion of your attorney fee, which is the remainder ($300 Essentials, $745 Standard, $1,545 Premium), is earned when we file your application with the USPTO.
• For Established Brand, which includes no search or assessment, the attorney fee is earned $545 when the Firm completes its pre-filing review of your questionnaire, ownership, use, and specimen materials, and the remaining $550 when we file your application.
• The USPTO filing fees are held in trust and paid to the USPTO only when we file, and we file only with your go-ahead, after you have received your risk assessment. For Established Brand, which includes no risk assessment, we file when the application is ready. If we file in fewer classes than your package includes, the unused USPTO filing fees are refunded to you from trust.
• Focused services. A standalone knockout search fee ($795) is earned $395 when your attorney reviews your search results and $400 when we deliver your written risk assessment; a standalone clearance search fee ($1,595) is earned $795 and $800 at those same two points, and per-class search additions are earned half at each point. A standalone application fee ($795) is earned $395 when the Firm reviews your questionnaire and $400 when we file your application. Statement of Use fees are earned half when you provide the required data and your attorney reviews it, and half when the filing is made. Extension-request fees are earned when the filing is made. If a focused-service engagement ends before a fee is earned, the unearned amount is refunded to you from trust.

USPTO fee changes. USPTO fees stated in these terms are the government's charges in effect on your sign-up date. If the USPTO changes a fee before we pay it on your behalf, you are responsible for any increase, which we will confirm and collect before filing, and any decrease is refunded or credited to you.

Any funds in trust that have not been earned or spent when the engagement ends will be refunded to you within thirty days. Earned fees are not refundable except as these terms expressly provide (Sections 1, 9, and 15).

6. Work beyond your package (additional and later legal services)

Your package covers the defined scope in Sections 2 through 4 and nothing more. You might ask us to do work outside that scope, such as adding a class, responding to a substantive office action that your package does not include, filing a Statement of Use or extension that your package does not include, investigating or advising on a related dispute or question, or any other legal service. We can often help, but that work is separate from your flat-fee package and is not covered by the prepaid amounts. This is equally true of any legal work you bring us later, after your trademark package is complete, whether related to your mark or not.

We will not do additional or later work without the Firm and you agreeing in writing first, including the work to be done and how it will be billed. A written agreement for this purpose includes an exchange of emails, text messages, or other electronic communications referencing the additional work. A separate, formal engagement letter is not required, though the Firm may choose to use one.

Unless a flat fee is quoted and agreed in advance, additional and later work is billed at the Firm's standard hourly rate, currently $485.00 per hour, billed in tenth-of-an-hour increments, plus out-of-pocket costs such as USPTO fees. The Firm's hourly rates are reviewed and may be adjusted periodically, including sometimes at the beginning of a calendar year. The Firm's current fee schedule is available at https://www.wmlex.com/our-fees/.

These Terms of Engagement govern any additional or later legal services the Firm agrees to provide, unless the Firm and you agree otherwise in a separate writing. If you return to the Firm for further work and we agree to it in writing, these terms continue to apply to that work unless a new engagement agreement replaces them.

7. Paying for additional work (retainers, reversed payments, interest, and collection)

This section applies to additional and later work under Section 6, and to any amount you come to owe the Firm beyond the prepaid package. It does not apply to the flat-fee packages in Sections 2 through 5, which are prepaid and handled as described there.

• Advance retainers. For additional or later work, the Firm may require an advance retainer toward anticipated fees and expenses before beginning, and may require one at other times as the work proceeds. Retainer funds are deposited in the Firm's client trust account, and the Firm draws against them to satisfy its statements, copies of which are sent to you. You remain responsible for fees and expenses that exceed the retainer, and the Firm may require you to replenish the retainer to its original level or a greater amount before continuing. Any unused retainer or other client funds are refunded to you within thirty days after the work concludes. The Firm may also require reasonable collateral to secure your obligations, which you agree to provide on request before the Firm will proceed.
• Invoices and when payment is due. Invoices for additional work and any expenses are sent periodically, usually monthly or at the conclusion of the additional matter. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, payment is due upon your receipt of each invoice.
• Interest on overdue amounts. If an invoice is not paid within 30 days of its date, the Firm may, at its option, impose a finance charge on unpaid amounts at 1% per month, compounded monthly, until paid. The charge is applied at the end of each monthly billing cycle to the balance then outstanding, including finance charges previously added (a 12% annual rate; approximately 12.7% effective annually with monthly compounding). Payments are applied first to accrued finance charges and then to the oldest outstanding fees and expenses. The finance charge will not exceed the maximum rate permitted by applicable law.
• Costs of collection. You agree to pay all costs of collection, including reasonable attorney fees and court costs, that the Firm incurs in any action to collect amounts you owe under these terms.
• Reversed or dishonored payments. If any payment you make to the Firm, including your sign-up payment, is later reversed, charged back, or otherwise not honored, you remain responsible for any fees the Firm has earned and any costs it has advanced on your behalf (such as USPTO filing fees already paid). Those amounts are immediately due and are subject to the interest and collection-cost terms above. Any disagreement about whether an amount was properly charged or earned is a fee dispute subject to Section 16. You agree to raise it with the Firm, and resolve it under Section 16 if needed, rather than by initiating a chargeback of amounts the Firm has properly earned or advanced. This does not limit any refund the Firm owes you under Sections 1, 5, or 9.

8. Your risk assessment (what it is and what it is not)

If your package calls for it, we search for existing trademark registrations and applications (and sometimes "common law" uses) that could block or endanger your registration, and we send you a risk assessment of the level of risk we see. It is a professional assessment of relative risk. It is not a guarantee, and it is not a formal clearance opinion. No search can find every possible conflict, and the USPTO's examining attorneys, and other trademark owners, make their own judgments that no one can fully predict. No mark is ever completely or absolutely "clear." The decision whether to file is always yours, made with our assessment in hand.

9. If your assessment comes back high-risk

If you have selected an Essentials, Standard, or Premium package and your risk assessment is determined as high-risk, you choose one of three paths. Established Brand includes no search or risk assessment, so this Section does not apply to it.

• Stop and take a refund. We refund the filing portion of your attorney fee ($300 Essentials, $745 Standard, or $1,545 Premium) and your unspent USPTO filing fees from trust. The search and assessment portion has been earned, because the search was performed and your assessment delivered.
• Try a different mark. One free second knockout search and risk assessment on a different mark, if requested within 30 days of your assessment. If the second assessment is also high-risk, then for Essentials and Standard we refund your unspent USPTO filing fees, and the attorney fee has been earned (it covered both searches, both assessments, and your attorney communications). For Premium, we refund $945 of the attorney fee, the portion attributable to the post-filing services never performed, plus your unspent USPTO filing fees.
• File anyway. You may instruct us to file despite our high-risk assessment. Because the risk of refusal or dispute is elevated, we require your written acknowledgment of the risk before filing, and the ordinary terms of Section 5 then apply. The filing portion is earned at filing, and the USPTO fees are spent at filing and are not refundable once paid to the USPTO.

If your assessment is high-risk for some goods or services and not others, you may instruct us to file only on the classes you choose, per Section 2A, and these paths apply only if you decide not to file at all.

10. No guarantees, and how the USPTO process can go

Any expressions on the Firm's part concerning the outcome of your matter are expressions of professional judgment, not guarantees. Registration is never assured. The USPTO may issue an office action (Section 3), and some refusals cannot be overcome. Filing fees paid to the USPTO are not refundable by the USPTO, even if registration is refused. Payment of the Firm's fees is not contingent on the outcome of your application.

No statement outside these terms, on the Firm's websites, in marketing materials, or otherwise, creates a promise, warranty, or guarantee, and in engaging the Firm you are relying on these terms, not on any such statement. The Firm is likewise not responsible for USPTO processing times or decisions, outages or errors of USPTO or other third-party systems, delayed or undelivered mail or email, or other events beyond its reasonable control.

11. Who we represent

The Firm represents only the Client, as defined at the top of these terms (the person or entity that owns or will own the trademark). Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we do not represent the person who signed or completed the questionnaire for the Client (where that is someone else), nor any affiliates or constituents of the Client, nor its shareholders, directors, officers, partners, members, or employees. If the Client is an individual, we do not represent family members or any business entity the Client owns.

12. Your responsibilities, and verification of your application

You agree to give us complete and accurate information, in the questionnaire and afterward, and to cooperate with us, respond to our communications, and remain reasonably available, including devoting the time to calls, video sessions, and email exchanges that your attorney determines the filing needs (Section 2). Trademark applications depend in part on facts only you know, and we therefore rely on you to be forthright, honest, and cooperative in this process. And if any information changes, including your contact information, you agree to tell us promptly.

Verification and declarations. USPTO applications and related filings include a declaration, made under penalty of perjury, about ownership, use of the mark, and the accuracy of the application's contents. You agree to verify those facts to your attorney, and your attorney will sign the declaration as authorized by, and in reliance on, your verification. Providing that verification may be, in our discretion, a condition of filing.

Our reliance on what you tell us. The Firm is entitled to rely on the information and verifications you provide without independently verifying them. You are responsible for the consequences of materially inaccurate or incomplete information you provide, and you agree to indemnify the Firm against third-party claims, government sanctions, and related costs (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from information you provided that was materially false or misleading. This does not apply to the Firm's own professional judgments or errors.

13. How we communicate and keep your file, and use of AI tools

Unless you direct us otherwise, the Firm will communicate with you by email and cellular or VoIP telephone, which may not be encrypted, and retains client files in electronic form only, on platforms that include third-party cloud services believed to be secure but not immune to intrusion. By agreeing to these terms, you consent to these means of communication and to electronic storage of your file.

We will keep you reasonably informed about your matter, as the rules of professional conduct require, and you can always ask for a status update. Descriptions of the service on our website and marketing materials, such as "plain-English updates at every step," describe how we intend to work. They are not a contractual promise that a particular update will be sent at a particular time, and a missed or delayed update is not a breach of these terms.

Notices and communications from the Firm are effective when sent to your email address of record. You agree to keep that address current and monitored, because deadlines in Section 15 and elsewhere run from when we send a communication, not from when you read it.

The Firm may use artificial intelligence tools in performing and supporting its services, and you hereby agree to such use. AI tools assist with drafting, research, and organization; the legal analysis, the risk assessment, and every filing decision are the attorney's own work.

Premium evidence storage and custody. For Premium engagements, we store your intent-to-use records and interstate sales records. We keep them safe, you own them, and we will send them to you, or to anyone you designate (such as another attorney), whenever you ask. When the engagement ends, your records are returned to you in the form you provided them. The Firm may discontinue the storage feature at any time and for any reason by delivering copies of your stored records to you. The Firm may also transfer custody of stored records to another attorney, firm, or service provider, subject to your approval of the recipient; if you do not approve, your records will be delivered to you alone.

14. Attorney-client privilege and confidentiality

Your communications with the Firm for the purpose of obtaining legal advice are generally protected by the attorney-client privilege, and the Firm holds your information in confidence under its professional obligations. The standard exceptions apply, such as communications in furtherance of crime or fraud, and disclosures required by law, court order, or the rules of professional conduct. If the Client is an entity, the privilege belongs to the entity and covers communications with the entity's constituents acting in their organizational capacity.

15. When and how the engagement ends

When it ends. Unless ended earlier under this Section, the engagement concludes when the first of these occurs: your mark registers; your application is finally refused or becomes abandoned; the services included in your package are completed; or the engagement is terminated or treated as concluded as described below.

If you do not cooperate. If you do not cooperate with the Firm, which includes, without limitation, not meaningfully responding to attorney communications within 30 days at any time during the pre-filing search and/or application process, the Firm may terminate the engagement on notice to you. In that event, the Firm will refund amounts advanced for USPTO filing fees that have not been spent, together with any portion of the attorney fee that the Firm determines in its discretion, consistent with Section 5, has not been earned. Please understand that USPTO deadlines run regardless of these terms. If a filing requires your input and we do not receive it in time, your application can become abandoned, and the Firm is not responsible for abandonment caused by your non-response.

Ending it early. You may terminate the engagement at any time by written notice. Subject to the rules of professional conduct, the Firm may decline or withdraw from the engagement upon reasonable notice, including if information emerges in the conflicts check or questionnaire that prevents us from proceeding; if you do not cooperate, communicate, or remain available as described in Section 12; or if amounts you owe for additional work under Sections 6 and 7 are not paid as agreed.

The accounting is the same in every case. Amounts earned under Section 5, and any amounts earned or costs advanced for additional work under Sections 6 and 7, remain earned and payable. Unearned amounts held in trust will be refunded to you within thirty days.

After the engagement ends, the Firm has no continuing duty to monitor your application or registration, calendar or remind you of maintenance deadlines (such as the required Section 8 declarations and renewals, or the optional Section 15 declaration), watch for potentially conflicting or infringing uses of your mark, or advise you of changes in the law, unless we agree to additional work under Section 6. Registered marks have required maintenance filings, the Section 8 declarations and renewals, and missing those cancels the registration; the Section 15 declaration is optional and adds protection but is not required. While we may remind you of deadlines outside the scope of our engagement, we are not obligated to do so. You agree to calendar them, or engage another attorney to handle them when they come due.

Before you read Section 16 (what it means in plain English)

If you and the firm ever have a legal dispute, including about fees or a claim that we handled your matter badly, Section 16 says it will be decided by a neutral private arbitrator rather than a judge or jury, and each side can bring claims only individually, not as part of a class action. That binds the firm just as it binds you, and it doesn't limit what you can recover; it only changes where disputes are decided. The trade-offs are real: no jury, more limited discovery, and very limited rights of appeal. The arbitrator must be a retired judge or an experienced attorney; hearings are based in Lexington, Kentucky, but can happen by video; smaller claims are decided on the papers; and if the AAA's consumer rules are found to apply, the firm pays the arbitration fees those rules assign to the business. If you'd like another lawyer to look at this section before signing, we encourage it.

This note is a summary to help you read. It is not part of the Terms of Engagement, and if it differs from Section 16, Section 16 controls.

16. Binding arbitration (how disputes between you and the Firm are resolved)

(a) Agreement to arbitrate. Except as provided in subsection (h), any dispute, claim, or controversy between you and the Firm arising out of or relating to these Terms of Engagement, the engagement, the attorney-client relationship, or any legal services provided or omitted by the Firm (including, without limitation, disputes concerning fees, costs, or billing; claims of legal malpractice, professional negligence, or breach of fiduciary duty; and disputes concerning the formation, interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or scope of this Section) shall be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures (the "Commercial Rules") in effect when the arbitration demand is filed. This agreement to arbitrate is mutual and binds the Firm to the same extent it binds you. The arbitrator, and not any court, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute concerning the formation, interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or scope of this Section, except that a court of competent jurisdiction may resolve any dispute concerning the validity of this delegation.

(b) Governing arbitration law; seat. This Section, and any arbitration conducted under it, is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., which shall preempt and supersede any inconsistent state law or rule. You and the Firm further agree, independently and in addition, that this agreement provides for arbitration in the Commonwealth of Kentucky within the meaning of KRS 417.200. The seat of the arbitration shall be Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, and any in-person hearing shall be held there. The arbitrator may conduct conferences and hearings by video, telephone, or other electronic means as the Commercial Rules permit.

(c) Single arbitrator; qualifications. The arbitration shall be conducted by a single arbitrator appointed under the Commercial Rules who is (i) a retired state or federal judge, or (ii) an attorney licensed for at least ten (10) years with substantial experience in professional-liability, legal-malpractice, or commercial disputes.

(d) Procedures for smaller claims. You and the Firm agree that the AAA's Expedited Procedures shall apply to any arbitration in which no disclosed claim or counterclaim exceeds $100,000, exclusive of interest, attorneys' fees, and arbitration fees and costs. Any arbitration in which no disclosed claim or counterclaim exceeds $25,000, exclusive of the same items, shall be resolved by submission of documents under Procedure E-6 of the Commercial Rules, without an oral hearing, unless the arbitrator determines that a hearing is necessary or you and the Firm agree otherwise.

(e) Commercial engagement; fallback. You represent and agree that you are engaging the Firm's services for business and commercial purposes (including in connection with one or more trademarks used or intended to be used in commerce) and not for personal, family, or household purposes, and that this is a commercial transaction to which the AAA's Commercial Rules apply. If the AAA nonetheless determines that its Consumer Arbitration Rules apply to a dispute, you and the Firm agree that (i) the arbitration shall proceed under the Consumer Arbitration Rules before a single arbitrator meeting the qualifications in subsection (c), seated as provided in subsection (b); (ii) the Firm shall pay all administrative fees and arbitrator compensation allocated to the business under the AAA's consumer fee schedule; and (iii) this Section shall be construed and administered consistently with the AAA's Consumer Due Process Protocol.

(f) Acknowledgments and disclosures. YOU AND THE FIRM EACH ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, BY AGREEING TO ARBITRATE UNDER THIS SECTION: (i) EACH PARTY WAIVES THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY AND THE RIGHT TO HAVE ANY COVERED DISPUTE DECIDED BY A COURT, EXCEPT AS STATED IN SUBSECTION (h); (ii) THE COVERED DISPUTES INCLUDE CLAIMS OF LEGAL MALPRACTICE AND BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY AGAINST THE FIRM; (iii) DISCOVERY AND OTHER PRE-HEARING PROCEDURES IN ARBITRATION ARE MORE LIMITED THAN IN COURT; (iv) THE ARBITRATOR'S AWARD IS FINAL AND BINDING, AND THE GROUNDS FOR APPEAL OR JUDICIAL REVIEW OF AN ARBITRATION AWARD ARE VERY LIMITED COMPARED TO A COURT JUDGMENT; (v) ARBITRATION FEES AND COSTS ARE ALLOCATED AS PROVIDED IN THE APPLICABLE AAA RULES AND FEE SCHEDULES AND, WHERE APPLICABLE, SUBSECTION (e); AND (vi) YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT YOU MAY WISH TO CONSULT INDEPENDENT COUNSEL OF YOUR CHOOSING BEFORE AGREEING TO THIS SECTION, AND HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO. THIS SECTION DOES NOT LIMIT THE FIRM'S LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY REMEDY OTHERWISE AVAILABLE TO YOU UNDER APPLICABLE LAW; IT DETERMINES ONLY THE FORUM IN WHICH COVERED DISPUTES ARE DECIDED.

(g) Individual capacity only; class waiver. YOU AND THE FIRM EACH AGREE THAT ANY COVERED DISPUTE SHALL BE BROUGHT AND RESOLVED ONLY IN THE PARTY'S INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one party's claims and may not preside over any form of class, collective, or representative proceeding. If this subsection is held unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) shall proceed in court under Section 17, and the remainder of this Section remains in effect.

(h) Award; judgment; enforcement. The arbitrator's award shall be final and binding, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Solely for proceedings to compel arbitration under this Section, to obtain provisional or interim relief in aid of arbitration, or to confirm, enforce, vacate, or modify an award, you and the Firm consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in Fayette County, Kentucky, provided that either party may also seek confirmation or enforcement of an award in any other court of competent jurisdiction. A request for provisional or interim relief from a court shall not waive the right to arbitrate.

(i) Confidentiality; survival. You and the Firm shall keep the existence, content, and outcome of any arbitration under this Section confidential, except as necessary to confirm or enforce an award, as required by law or applicable rules of professional conduct, or as you and the Firm otherwise agree in writing. This Section survives the conclusion or termination of the engagement.

17. General

These terms are governed by Kentucky law, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes are resolved by arbitration as Section 16 provides. For any matter not subject to arbitration, the state and federal courts sitting in Fayette County, Kentucky are the exclusive forum; you and the Firm consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there; and EACH PARTY WAIVES TRIAL BY JURY in any such court proceeding to the fullest extent permitted by law.

These terms, together with your selected package and sign-up record, are the entire agreement between you and the Firm for the services described, and, as provided in Section 6, they govern any additional or later services we agree to in writing unless a separate writing says otherwise. They may be amended only by a writing agreed to by both you and the Firm (for additional work, the electronic communications described in Section 6 qualify). You may not assign the engagement or these terms, which bind and benefit the parties and their permitted successors. The Firm's decision not to enforce a provision on one occasion is not a waiver of that provision or any other. Some provisions by their nature apply after the engagement ends and survive its conclusion or termination. These include Sections 5 through 7 (amounts earned and owed), 12 (verification and reliance), 14 (privilege and confidentiality), 15 (post-engagement matters), 16 (arbitration), and this Section. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.

Acceptance

Please review these terms carefully, including Section 16, which provides for binding arbitration of disputes and a waiver of class proceedings. By signing, you represent that you are the Client or are authorized to accept these terms on the Client's behalf; if the Client is a business entity, state your title or role when you sign. If the correct owner of the trademark is later determined to be a different person or entity (for example, your company rather than you personally), these terms apply to that owner as the Client from the outset, and your signature is acceptance on that owner's behalf as well. If you signed without the authority you represented, or the owner does not ratify the engagement, you are personally responsible for the obligations and amounts owed under these terms, and these terms (including Section 16) apply to you personally. You agree that your electronic signature is valid and binding to the same extent as a handwritten signature. Your electronic signature below is your acceptance of these Terms of Engagement (version TOE-v2.5-2026-08-20) as, or on behalf of, the Client.

End of terms.

Terms accepted ✓ Payment is the one step left

Your acceptance is recorded and a copy will be emailed to you. Now complete your payment of through our secure payment page (Clio Payments, into the firm's IOLTA trust account). Enter the exact amount shown above.

Pay securely via Clio

Clio is the practice-management and payments platform our firm runs on, used widely across the U.S. legal industry. Your card details are entered on Clio's secure payment page and handled by its PCI-compliant payment processor; they never touch our website. Your payment goes into the firm's IOLTA trust account, where it remains client money until earned under the terms.

A note on timing. We don't begin work until your payment clears and our conflicts check is complete. Card payments (credit, debit, or Apple Pay) typically clear within one to two business days. eCheck (bank account) payments typically take five to seven business days to clear. If time matters to you, a card is the faster choice.

After payment you'll receive your trademark questionnaire by email, and everything proceeds as the terms describe.