TMEP § 819.03
To meet the base application requirement set forth in 37 C.F.R. §2.22(a)(20), all goods and/or services in the application must be taken directly from the USPTO’s Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual (ID Manual) within the electronic form. If the applicant elects to enter any goods or services using the free-form text box in the initial application, or the applicant misuses the fill-in-the-blank field of an ID Manual entry, the base application requirement set forth in 37 C.F.R. §2.22(a)(20) is not met, and the applicant must pay a free-form text ID fee, per class. See 37 C.F.R. §2.22(c).
At Filing. If an applicant enters any free-form text ID entries in the application, the trademark electronic filing system will require the applicant to pay the free-form text ID fee at the time of filing. Any identification entered using the free-form text box is considered a free-form text ID entry, even if the identification entered is copied from the ID Manual. Once a free-form text ID entry is entered, the fee will be required for every class in the application even if the applicant elects to use the ID Manual within the electronic form for any other identification entries in the application. In general, to avoid the free-form text ID fee for any classes in which only entries from the ID Manual within the electronic form are used, the applicant may file a separate application for those entries.
During examination. Some ID Manual entries require the applicant to complete parenthetical information (e.g., "specify the function of the programs"). The display of such entries will include a field for the applicant to fill in the necessary information, following the instructions within the listing (i.e., a fill-in-the-blank field). If only entries from the ID Manual within the electronic form were used in the initial application and, therefore, the free-form text ID fee was not assessed at filing, this per class fee will be assessed during examination if the applicant misuses the fill-in-the-blank field by leaving the fill-in-the-blank field empty, inserting information that is clearly inappropriate for the selected identification, or inserting additional goods and/or services that are unrelated to the selected identification.
For example, the fee is required if the applicant selects entries from the ID Manual within the electronic form for all goods and/or services in the initial application but provides the following wording in the fill-in-the-blank field:
In these situations, the applicant has, in effect, failed to submit an identification from the ID Manual in the initial application, and the application therefore does not meet the base application requirements. The free-form text ID fee is required even if the applicant later cures or deletes the unacceptable terminology.
The free-form text ID fee is not required if the identification of goods and/or services has a fill-in-the-blank field and the applicant makes a reasonable attempt to supply the required information in accordance with the instructions, but the identification requires amendment because the information:
No Fee for Amendment of Acceptable Identification from ID Manual Within the Electronic Form. If the ID Manual within the electronic form is used for each good and/or service listed and there is no misuse of the fill-in-the-blank field, the free-form text ID fee will not be required if the identification of goods and/or services is later amended, either in response to a requirement or on the applicant’s own initiative. This is true even if the amendment to the identification is unacceptable. Similarly, the free-form text ID fee is not required if the identification is acceptable and correctly classified as filed, but is amended during examination to add or substitute another class (e.g., amendment from "headwear" in Class 25 to add "helmets" in Class 9; although "helmets" is not an acceptable identification and would require amendment to indicate the type of helmets, because the original identification was an acceptable identification from the ID Manual, the free-form text ID fee is not required).
Per class. The free-form text ID fee applies to all active classes in the application at the time the fee is required, even if classes are subsequently deleted, and will apply to any new classes that are subsequently added to the application.
Example: The application is for one class. The applicant uses free-form text ID entries in the identification, but otherwise meets the other base application requirements. The applicant pays the filing fee and free-form text ID fee at filing. The examining attorney determines that the identification is indefinite and may fall in more than one class. If the applicant adds one or more classes to the application, the applicant must pay the filing fee and free-form text ID fee for each added class.
No Partial Refusal. Because the free-form text ID fee applies to all classes in the application at the time the fee is assessed, an Office action requiring this additional fee can never be a partial refusal.