JMR Law Group PLLC Engagement Agreement
Terms and conditions of engagement · JMR Law Group PLLC
Subject to a conflict check, the following terms of engagement are agreed to by you (“you” or the “Client”) and JMR Law Group, PLLC (“JMR,” “we,” or “us”) (the “Engagement”). If we determine there is a conflict of interest after you pay the fixed fee(s) quoted at checkout, or we are unable to make the requested filing, we will refund all fees to you within seven (7) days and will not be able to represent you. Otherwise, the following are the terms of the Engagement. We recommend you save a copy for your file.
General Terms
1. Scope. You are retaining JMR only for the filing(s) you request and pay for through our online tools. Once the filing is made, JMR is under no obligation to continue representing you, and the Engagement ends when the filing is submitted to the USPTO. We are not obligated to perform additional services — for example, responding to a USPTO office action or audit — unless you and JMR agree to them. If additional or hourly work is requested, necessary, and agreed to by both parties, we will spell out our fees to you in writing before we begin.
2. Fees. For trademark maintenance and renewal work, we bill you the fees quoted in our online filing tools. Quoted fees are all-in: they include our professional fee and the USPTO government fees for your filing, itemized before you pay. We will not charge you anything beyond the quoted total without telling you first and getting your consent.
3. Refunds. Your payment is fully refundable until services are rendered. Services are rendered once JMR makes your filing. USPTO fees are never refundable once the filing is made.
4. Conflicts. JMR makes USPTO filings for many clients, and some of them may be competitors of yours or adverse to you. You consent to our representation of those clients — ask us if you have questions about this. We will not represent one client in a way that violates our duties to another, and if we determine there is a direct conflict of interest with your filing, we will decline the representation and refund your fees as described above.
5. Termination. You may terminate our services at any time for any reason. We may withdraw from representation at any time, including if our fees are not paid in a timely manner, or for any reason required or permitted by the rules of professional conduct. We will not refund fees paid for filings already made.
6. Confidentiality. It is in your best interest to keep communications between you and JMR confidential. Disclosure of our communications to third parties could jeopardize the attorney-client privilege, so we advise against it. Anything you disclose to us is, of course, privileged and confidential.
7. No attorney-client relationship before engagement. Our website is general information, not legal advice. Until you sign this Engagement Agreement and pay the quoted fee(s), no attorney-client relationship exists between you and JMR, and you should not act or refrain from acting based on anything on our site without advice from a qualified attorney.
8. Electronic signatures and communications. You consent to do business with us electronically. Your electronic signature and checked confirmations on our platform have the same effect as ink on paper, and we may deliver records, receipts, and notices to the email address you provide.
9. Eligibility. You are at least 18 years old, and if you are engaging us on behalf of a business entity, you have authority to bind it.
10. Changes to these terms. We may update these terms from time to time. The version you agree to at checkout governs your Engagement, and past versions remain available on our website. We will never advertise an included service and then remove our obligation to perform it.
11. Governing law and disputes. This Engagement is governed by Washington law. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington, and both parties consent to their jurisdiction.
12. No guarantees. We will represent your interests vigorously and endeavor to complete our services to your satisfaction. No attorney can guarantee a particular outcome at the USPTO, and we do not.
Additional Terms for Maintenance and Renewal Filings
13. Deadlines and the grace period. If you engage us close to your statutory deadline, we will move quickly, but we cannot guarantee filing before the deadline. If the registration enters the six-month grace period, the USPTO’s grace surcharges apply and are included in the total quoted at checkout.
14. Goods and services in use. USPTO maintenance filings require that your mark is in use for the goods and services you maintain, unless excusable nonuse is claimed. Our tools let you remove goods and services no longer in use before you file — please use them. The USPTO may impose penalties on a registrant who maintains goods or services not actually in use, and those penalties are your responsibility.
15. Audits and office actions. The USPTO randomly audits some maintenance filings and may issue office actions. Responding is additional work outside the quoted filing fee. If it happens, we will quote the work to you in writing before proceeding.
16. Section 15 incontestability. When elected, a Section 15 declaration adds only the USPTO government fee to your total. We charge no additional professional fee for it.
17. Your information. Information you provide through our online tools is used to prepare and make your filing, to communicate with you, and to take payment. It is transmitted, held and kept as described in our Privacy Notice at jmrlawgroup.com/privacy, which forms part of this Engagement. Filings, and the information in them, become part of the USPTO's public record. Our website holds your filing record only while payment is pending — for up to seven days, in encrypted temporary storage — and then deletes it; the record is delivered to us by email and kept in our matter files for the period stated in the Privacy Notice.
Questions about the terms of our representation? Contact us at tm@jmrlawgroup.com. You agree to these terms by checking the boxes provided at signing. Keep a copy of this Engagement Agreement in your files.
Once again, JMR Law Group appreciates the opportunity to work with you.
Very truly yours,
Jason M. Rhodes