Source: http://www.ptrc.us/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 10:13:55+00:00

Document:
Once you have obtained a U.S federal trademark registration, you must take certain steps to maintain the registration. Otherwise the USPTO will cancel your registration.
Why do I have to Renew the Trademark?
Maintaining your trademark rights through efficient renewals management is of fundamental importance. To prevent the cancellation of a registered trademark, trademark owners are required to periodically file their trademark renewal documents with local Trademark Office.
(2) within the year before the end of every ten-year period after the date of registration.
The registrant may file the Section 8 Continuation Of Use within a grace period of six months after the end of the sixth or every tenth year, with payment of an additional fee. The registrant must also file a Section 9 Renewal application (Section 9 Renewal) within the year before the end of each successive 10-year period following the date of registration, or within a grace period of six months thereafter, with payment of an additional fee. Assuming the Section 8 Continuation Of Use and Section 9 Renewal are timely-filed as indicated above, the registration will be renewed for a 10-year term. If the Section 8 Continuation Of Use and Section 9 Renewal are not timely filed, the registration will be cancelled. Registrations cancelled due to the failure to file a Section 8 Affidavit and Section 9 Renewal cannot be revived or reinstated.
When I must file the Continuation Of Use and Renewal Declaration?
First Filing Deadline: File a Declaration of Use (or Excusable Nonuse) between the 5th and 6th years after the registration date. See 15 U.S.C. § 1058. If the declaration is accepted, the registration will continue in force for the remainder of the ten-year period from the registration date, unless cancelled by an order of the Commissioner for Trademark or a federal court.
Subsequent Filing Deadline: File a Declaration of Use (or Excusable Nonuse) and an Application for Renewal between the 9th and 10th years after the registration date, and between every 9th and 10th year after the registration date thereafter. See 15 U.S.C. § 1059.NOTE regarding Grace Period Filings: The above documents will be accepted as timely if filed within six months after the deadlines listed above with the payment of an additional fee.
NOTE regarding Grace Period Filings: The above documents will be accepted as timely if filed within six months after the deadlines listed above with the payment of an additional fee.
Will the United States Patent and Trademark Office contact me directly and request payment?
No. The USPTO will never contact you directly.
With this in mind, note that there are companies that attempt to scam users by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office database and contacting the owners of Trademarks directly, seeking payment. If you have received a Solicitations, do not hesitate to contact your PTRC to confirm or disregard the notice if you are certain it is not from the USPTO but from a company trying to mimic the government entity.
Will my registration be cancelled if I do not file a Renewal Declaration?
Yes. The United States Patent and Trademark Office will cancel any registration on either the Principal Register or the Supplemental Register if a timely Renewal Declaration is not filed by the current owner or legal representative of the registration during the prescribed time periods. The USPTO has no authority to waive or extend the deadline for filing a proper Declaration. Registrations cancelled due to the failure to file a Declaration cannot be reinstated or "revived." A new application to pursue registration of the mark again must be filed.
What is a declaration of Continued Use?
A Declaration of Continued Use is a sworn statement, filed by the owner or Legal Representative of a registration that the mark is in use in commerce. Section 8 of the Trademark Act.
Must I fill the 8 Declaration if I don’t use Trademark?
If the owner or legal representative is claiming excusable nonuse of the mark, a §8 Declaration of Excusable Nonuse may be filed. The purpose of the §8 Declaration is to remove marks no longer in use from the register.
What is a Declaration of excusable nonuse?
Section 8 Declaration of Excusable Nonuse is a sworn statement, filed by the owner or representative of a registration that the mark is not in use in commerce due to special circumstances that excuse such nonuse and is not due to any intention to abandon the mark. Section 8 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1058.
What must include in a Section 8 Declaration of Excusable Nonuse?
A list of the goods/services in the registration on or in connection with which the mark is not in use in commerce; the date of the last use of the mark in commerce; the approximate date when use in commerce is expected to resume; details regarding the reason for nonuse; and specific steps being taken to resume use; A signed and dated affidavit or declaration under 37 C.F.R. §2.20.
What must include in Continuation Of Use Declaration?
A signed and dated affidavit or declaration under 37 C.F.R. §2.20.
How will I know if Continuation Of Use Declaration has been accepted?
Section 8 Declarations are reviewed by trademark specialists in the Post-Registration Division. If the Section 8 Declaration is accepted, Patent & Trademark Resource Center will send a Notice of Acceptance from United States Patent and Trademark Office. If the Section 8 Declaration is refused, PTRC will send from the USPTO an Office Action stating the reasons for refusal and any remedies available.
How may I send in my Order Form application?
Signed Order Form application is accepted by U.S. mail. You can send it by included prepaid envelope.
Duplicate copies of forms are not to be submitted.
How long will it take before I know if my application has been accepted?
The Patent & Trademark Resource Center processes applications for recordal and renewal in the order in which they are received. Generally, processing time varies from 7 to 10 working days, with delays possible due to federal holidays.
Once my application is processed for a renewal, what will I receive?
After processing a renewal application, the United States Patent and Trademark Office does not issue a new certificate. Renewals are noted in Office records and appear on the Insignia Registry when it is updated. The Registry is updated quarterly, typically in January, April, July, and October.
After an alpha-numeric designation is reactivated to the original owner, the USPTO will issue a new Certificate of Recordal with the new recordal date from which to calculate renewals. When a new owner files an application for re-activation, the new owner is not issued a new recordal date and only shall remain in active status until the expiration of the five year period that began upon the issuance of the alphanumeric designation to its original owner or to any time remaining in a renewal period granted thereafter. Thus, if a new owner requests reactivation with only a few months remaining until a renewal is due, the new owner must also file a renewal application in the time allowed or in the grace period, with the required late fee.
Do I need to send proof that the mark is being used?
Yes. You will need to send proof that the mark is being used in this country.
Acceptable proofs of use could include: a page from a web site, an advertisement, a brochure or a pamphlet which describes the product/service and shows the trademark.
Labels, tags, or packaging are also considered acceptable proof of use for a trademark.
We do encourage you to plan ahead when filing and sending papers and not wait until the last minute.
All forms when received are time/date stamped, according to Eastern Standard Time (EST) and EST controls for purposes of determining the timeliness of a document. Any submission that arrives as of 11:59 p.m. EST will be given that day's filing date (i.e., regardless of the PTRC "normal" business hours).
What type of image files does PTRC accept?
A mark image file may only be in a JPG format. Otherwise, all other image attachments (e.g., specimens, evidence) may be in either the JPG or PDF format. Each image attachment cannot exceed 5 megabytes.
1) Mark images should not include the trademark, service mark or registration symbols (TM, SM,®). These symbols should only appear on specimens.
2) Mark images should be submitted with as little white space around the design as possible. Unless a color image is being submitted for a mark wherein color is claimed as a feature of the mark, the mark image should be pure black-and-white, with no gray areas.
3) The PTRC recommends that all black-and-white jpg images and color jpg images be scanned at no less than 300 dots per inch and no more than 350 dots per inch, and within a pixel range of a length and width of no less than 250 pixels and no more than 944 pixels; e.g., a valid pixel dimension is 640 X 480 pixels. The system also allows a black-and-white image in grayscale, so you can also scan your image using 8 bits per sample pixel which allows for 256 different shades of gray, considers an image saved in grayscale to be a black and white image.
4) Images created on a Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator must be properly saved with appended file extensions .jpg for use on a Windows system. We cannot open image files that are not properly saved prior to attachment.
5) Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator users must ensure that images are saved with the RGB color scheme. The USPTO cannot accept the CYMK color scheme. If you can open your image with your browser, then it is saved in the RGB color scheme.
6) Do not zip your image files or add any additional compression. JPG files are already compressed.
7) Sending a file to the PTRC mailbox is NOT in and of itself considered an actual "filing" for any deadline purposes.
Do documents have any specific PDF requirements?
1) be a valid PDF format. It is NOT sufficient that the file simply be named using a PDF extension (.pdf), because that does not by itself create a valid PDF file.
2) be version 1.3 or newer.
3) have an overall size under 30MB. While no page limit exists, each PDF file cannot exceed 30 MB.
NOT contain security settings (e.g., self-sign security, user passwords, and/or permissions) that would prevent the USPTO from opening, viewing, or printing the file. All security settings must be deactivated (e.g., encryption, master passwords, and/or permissions) prior to upload to TEAS.
NOT contain any embedded scripts and/or executables, including sound or movie (multimedia) objects, prior to upload to TEAS.
NOT contain any multimedia (e.g., sound, video, animations, slide shows); 3-dimensional models; or multi-page objects (e.g., Excel spreadsheets), prior to upload to TEAS. While the overall PDF file would upload, the other internal object will be "stripped" out of the file, and will not be viewable.
4) be named properly. The file name can consist of any upper or lower case letters or numbers, but must end in .pdf. It can also include the following:, and . [excluding the commas shown here]. No spaces are allowed in the actual PDF file name, but spaces are permitted in the file path. The name can be up to 256 characters long, including the .pdf portion; however, you are encouraged to use the shortest name possible. [NOTE: Similarly, for JPG files, while the name can be up to 256 characters, including the .jpg portion, you should use the shortest name possible, as that helps ensure a successful upload to TEAS].
USE one of the following formats for any images within the PDF file: GIF, BMP, TIFF, JPG and/or PNG. No other image formats are supported. However, the image may include black-and-white, color, and/or grayscale.
NOTE: Fonts not listed above must be embedded within the PDF document, and the fonts listed above should be embedded. In addition, all fonts should be set to "subset."
5) be free of worms, viruses or other malicious content. Files with malicious content will be deleted.
6) be "single layer." Documents with multiple layers must be flattened prior to submission, to convert all overlapping areas in a stack of transparent objects into a collection of opaque objects. Any invisible layers will be lost when processed.
NOT contain any active hypertext links, or any internal/external links. While you may textually reference a URL as a disabled link, it cannot be presented as an actual hyperlink.
7) be saved at 300 DPI.
8) be no larger than 14 x 14 inches. If any page within the entire PDF file exceeds this size limitation, the entire PDF file will be blocked from upload.
How can I see my trademark records?
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is required by law to maintain records of trademark applications and registrations and to make them available for public inspection. Once submitted, an application becomes part of the public record and continues to be part of the public record whether the application is abandoned or the registration is surrendered, cancelled, or expired.
What is an Incontestable registration?
An "incontestable" registration is conclusive evidence of the validity of the registered mark, of the registration of the mark, of the owner's ownership of the mark and of the owner's exclusive right to use the mark with the goods/services. The claim of incontestability is subject to certain limited exceptions set forth in §§15 and 33(b) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §§1065 and 1115(b).
What is an Incontestable Declaration?
A §15 Declaration is a sworn statement, filed by the owner of a mark registered on the Principal Register, claiming "incontestable" rights in the mark for the goods/services specified. Marks registered on the Supplemental Register are not eligible for claims of incontestable rights under §15.
Am I required to file an Incontestable Declaration?
No. The filing of a §15 Declaration is optional. An owner may choose to claim the benefits of incontestability by filing a §15 Declaration or may elect to retain the registration without those benefits. The term of the registration, for purpose of renewal, is not affected in either event.
Is there a particular time period for filling an Incontestable Declaration?
Yes. A §15 Declaration may not be filed until the mark has been in continuous use in commerce for at least five consecutive years subsequent to the date of registration for marks registered under the Act of 1946 (and subsequent to the date of publication under §12(c) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1062(c), for marks registered under the Acts of 1905 and 1881 for which the benefits of the Act of 1946 have been claimed). The §15 Declaration must be executed and filed within one year following a 5-year period of continuous use of the mark in commerce.
What I must include in Incontestable Declaration?
To what extent does the office examine a claim of Incontestability under §15?
The USPTO neither examines the merits of §15 Declarations nor "accepts" §15 Declarations. However, the USPTO will review a §15 Declaration to determine whether it complies with statutory requirements. The USPTO will acknowledge receipt of only those §15 Declarations that meet all statutory requirements. §15 Declarations for registrations issued under Section 69, 15 U.S.C. §1141i, may only be filed in accordance with the specific time requirements outlined in Section 73. 15 U.S.C. §1141m. Section 73 itself does not require a separate filing, but rather only establishes the time for filing. The §15 Declaration form may be used regardless of the original basis for registration.
What’s the difference between a trademark and a service mark?
A service mark is any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce, to identify and distinguish the services of one provider from the services provided by others, and to indicate the source of the services.
Use of the TM and SM symbols may be governed by local, state, or foreign laws and the laws of a pertinent jurisdiction to identify the marks that a party claims rights to. The federal registration symbol, the R enclosed within a circle, may be used once the mark is actually registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Even though an application is pending, the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has actually become registered.
The federal registration symbol should only be used on goods or services that are the subject of the federal trademark registration.
PLEASE NOTE: Several foreign countries use the letter R enclosed within a circle to indicate that a mark is registered in that country. Use of the symbol by the holder of a foreign registration may be proper.
How can I check status of my Trademark?
How can I get trademark information on submitting a change of correspondence address?
Once the correspondence address is established for a particular application, it is not changed unless there is a written request by the applicant or his or her representative to do so.
We also accept a mailed check if that is a better option for you.
Who can I contact if I have more questions about a trademark renewal?
Additional contact information is available on site www.ptrc.us at our Contact Us page.

References: § 1058
 § 1059
 §8
 §8
 §2
 §2
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §12
 §1062
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §15
 §1141
 §1141
 §15