ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
electronic filings; secretary
of state
Purpose
Allows certificates of limited partnership, trademarks, service marks, trade names, titles and designations to be filed electronically with the Secretary of State. Extends the time period that an individual or business can renew their trandemark after expiration.
Background
The Office of the Secretary of State currently oversees 16,573 limited partnerships, 18,254 trademarks and 122,290 trade names. The Office administers the recording of applications for these entities and any subsequent filings they may require. Current Arizona law only allows certificates of limited partnership, trademarks, trade names, title and designations to be filed using a paper form provided by the Secretary of State. Paper documents such as these take approximately two weeks to process by the Office, but the same documents processed electronically is estimated to take only two days. The Office currently has a prototype program that would allow them to receive documents electronically. H.B. 2047 allows certificates of limited partnership, restated certificates of limited partnership, certificates of amendment or cancellation, judicial decree of amendment or cancellation, trademarks, service marks, trade names, titles and designation to be electronically filed with the Secretary of State.
Trademarks are registered for a period of ten years. Current statute provides for renewal of trademarks within three months of expiration. Trade names, which register for five years, are permitted a six month renewal period. H.B. 2047 extends the time period that an individual or business can renew their trademark after expiration.
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state general fund associated with this legislation. The Office of the Secretary of State indicated that it would absorb the costs of implementing this measure within its current budget.
Provisions
1. Allows certificates of limited partnership, restated certificates of limited partnership, certificates of amendment or cancellation, judicial decree of amendment or cancellation, trademarks, service marks, trade names, title and designations to be filed electronically with the Secretary of State.
2. Requires submitted electronic documents to be in compliance with the filing, verification, signature and the penalty of perjury requirements of the Secretary of State.
3. Allows the Secretary of State to adopt rules requiring a written or printed copy of the document to accompany the electronically filed document.
4. Specifies that the civil and criminal statutes that apply to paper documents apply equally to electronically submitted documents.
5. Extends, from 3 months to 6 months, the time period that an individual or business can renew their trademark after expiration.
6. Provides for a general effective date.
Amendments
Adopted by the Commerce Committee
Extends the time period that an individual or business can renew their trademark after expiration to six months.
House Action
Senate Action
EUT 1/24/01 DPA 10-0-0 0 COM 3/14/01 DPA 4-0-2-0
CED 2/05/01 DPA/SE 10-0-0-0
3rd Read 2/14/01 58-0-2-0
Prepared by Senate Staff
March 14, 2001