A §8 affidavit or declaration and a §9 renewal application may be combined into a single document, if the document meets the requirements of both §8 and §9 of the Act. 37 C.F.R. §2.166.

The filing fee for the combined §8 and §9 filing is the sum of the cost of the individual filings. If the combined §8 and §9 document is filed during the grace period, the filing fees per class and the grace period surcharge per class must be paid for both the §8 affidavit or declaration and the §9 renewal application.

Example: The period for filing a §8 affidavit or declaration and §9 renewal application expires on November 19, 2009. A combined §8 and §9 document is filed November 21, 2009, during the six-month grace period. The proper fees are as follows: (1) filing fee for the §8 affidavit or declaration, per class; (2) grace period surcharge for the §8 affidavit or declaration, per class; (3) filing fee for the §9 renewal application, per class; and (4) grace period surcharge for the §9 renewal application, per class.

Failure to include the proper fees is a deficiency that may require a deficiency surcharge. See TMEP §§1604.17-1604.17(c) and §§1606.13-1606.13(c) for information about the procedures, deadlines, and surcharge for correcting deficiencies.

Only a single deficiency surcharge is required for curing one or more deficiencies in a combined §8 and §9 filing, even if both the §8 affidavit or declaration and the §9 renewal application are deficient. Similarly, only a single deficiency surcharge is required to correct several deficiencies within one document.

The combined §8 and §9 filing must be submitted through the trademark electronic filing system, unless an exception to the requirement to file electronically applies. See 37 C.F.R. §2.23(a); TMEP §§301.01, 301.01(a). Upon successful submission, the trademark electronic filing system almost immediately displays a page that confirms receipt. This page is evidence of filing should any question arise as to the filing date of the document, and it may be printed or copied-and-pasted into an electronic record for storage. The trademark electronic filing system also separately sends an email acknowledgement of receipt, which includes a summary of the filed information

See TMEP §1605.05 regarding a combined filing under §8 and §15 of the Act.