How Do I Renew My Registered Trademark On Uspto

amend a trademark registration

You can sometimes ameliorate a trademark registration issued by the Usa Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), merely like yous can sometimes amend a trademark awarding before it becomes a registration. All requests for subpoena of a registration must be "for skillful cause," which essentially means you need to have a legitimate reason for the amendment. In add-on, a request to meliorate a trademark registration must be accompanied by the required government filing fee and be supported with the annunciation language found in 37 C.F.R. § 2.20.

Why Would I Need to Amend a Trademark Registration?

Although at that place are many reasons why a trademark owner may need to ameliorate a trademark registration, there are two situations which ascend almost frequently. The first situation occurs when it comes time for the trademark registration possessor to file the Section eight Declaration of Utilise, Section 71 Proclamation of Use, or the Department 8 and 9 Renewal. Those documents crave that you provide a current specimen showing use of the registered trademark in commerce. But what if you've changed your trademark such that the trademark displayed on the specimen no longer matches the trademark in your registration? If you submit the Section 8 Declaration, Section 71 Proclamation, or the Section 8 and 9 Renewal with a specimen that doesn't prove the marker exactly as information technology's registered, then those documents will be rejected and your trademark registration volition be jeopardized. So, you would demand to successfully amend the trademark registration prior to filing those documents.

The second situation occurs when a trademark cancellation has been filed against a registration and the parties agree to resolve the cancellation by having the owner amend its trademark registration in some manner. In this scenario, the petitioner ordinarily agrees to withdraw the petition for cancellation once the subpoena to the registration is approved.

What Types of Amendments are Allowable?

In that location are a number of allowable requests to amend a trademark registration. Some of them include:

A request that particular products or services be completely removed from the registration. Delight note that products and services may never exist added to the registration.
A asking that particular products or services be restricted or clarified (only non broadened)
A request that the dates of first utilise be amended (with some restrictions)
A request that a disclaimer exist entered to disclaim a portion of the trademark (so long equally the remaining portion of the trademark is withal registrable)

All the same, the most common request to better a trademark registration involves a change to the trademark itself. Yous may just asking an amendment to the mark itself if the amendment "does not materially change the graphic symbol of the mark." Generally speaking, an amendment of a registered mark is acceptable if the modified marker contains the essence of the registered mark and the modified marker creates substantially the same impression every bit the registered mark. In reality, this ways that merely very minor changes to the mark are ever commanded. As such, information technology'southward probably a adept idea to consult with a trademark attorney about the amendment you want to brand before spending fourth dimension and money requesting an amendment that may exist doomed to fail.

How Do I Amend a Trademark Registration?

If your trademark registration is not the subject of a counterfoil proceeding, so you tin amend your trademark registration past filing a Section seven Request for Amendment with the USPTO. The Department seven is an online grade that is available on the USPTO's website. Basically, it requires you to depict with specificity the exact amendment you want to make. In improver, if the amendment consists of a modify to the trademark itself, you lot will demand to submit a current specimen showing use of the revised trademark in commerce. After y'all submit the Section 7, an examiner in the Post-Registration Section of the USPTO will review it for compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. If the Section 7 satisfies all legal requirements, and so the amendment will be approved and your trademark registration volition be updated. On the other paw, if the Section seven is deficient in some manner, or it violates a particular USPTO rule or regulation, then you will receive a postal service-registration office activity explaining why the Section 7 could not be accustomed. If you don't respond to the post-registration office action within six months, or your response doesn't persuade the examiner to accept the Section 7, then the Section 7 will be abandoned and your trademark registration will not exist amended.

Now, if your registration is currently the field of study of a cancellation proceeding, and so you may only amend your trademark registration by preparing and filing a Motion to Improve Registration with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Lath (TTAB). The Motion to Meliorate must encounter all of the same requirements as the Department 7 Request for Amendment. Even so, the TTAB will only grant a Motion to Amend if the petitioner in the cancellation proceeding gives its written consent to the amendment. In the event the Motion to Amend doesn't include the petitioner'south written consent, or information technology doesn't satisfy all other legal requirements, so the TTAB will deny the Motion to Meliorate and your trademark registration won't exist amended.

I Can Help Amend a Trademark Registration

I'm experienced Us trademark attorney Morris Turek. If yous demand to amend your trademark registration and want to make sure it's done correctly and in a timely fashion, please reach out to me at your primeval convenience. You can telephone call me directly at (314) 749-4059, shoot me an email to morris@yourtrademarkattorney.com, or complete the contact form located beneath. I look forward to working with yous.