You can prevent the unfortunate death of your hard-earned trademark registration by complying with the USPTO maintenance deadlines.

Properly maintained registrations are labeled by the USPTO as “live.”  However, if maintance deadlines are missed, the trademark will be canceled and the status will be changed to “dead.”  Here is an overview of the deadlines:

Deadline	Required Filing
Between the 5th and 6th years after the registration	Declaration of Use and/or Excusable Nonuse under Section 8.
Between the 9th and 10th years after the registration date and every 10 years after that	Declaration of Use and/or Excusable Nonuse and an Application for Renewal under Section 8 and Section 9

If a maintenance deadline is missed, the USPTO offers a 6 month grace period, but if that deadline is also missed, the trademark registration will be canceled.

Please call to schedule an appointment with one of the trademark attorneys at Waldron & Schneider to learn more about the status of your trademark registration.  The attorneys at Waldron & Schneider can identify the applicable deadlines as well as prepare and file the required documentation to help keep your trademark “live.”  In the event that your trademark is already “dead,” the attorneys at Waldron & Schneider can present you with options about how to proceed.

The legal information in this blog entry is not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized legal advice from an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.  Further, nothing contained in this article is intended to create an attorney-client relationship with any reader.  This article and website are made available by Waldron & Schneider for educational purposes only and to give basic information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice. By using this website you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and Waldron & Schneider. The article and website should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state. For more information or questions you can contact us and one of our attorneys will be in touch soon.