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Recommend Mastering Specimens of Use: Tricky, but Essential (Email)

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Proving up trademark use to the USPTO’s satisfaction can be tricky.

It needn’t be, but it’s not always intuitive, which can lead to mistakes.

The first thing to remember is that the proof of use — called the “specimen” — needs to reflect the exact trademark the applicant applied to register. If the “drawing,” or form of mark the applicant applied to register, is in color, has a box around it, or contains other words, then the specimen needs to have all of those things. The only exception is for very minor — hardly noticeable — differences. This means the applicant needs to be careful to apply to register the precise form it is using or plans to use. Any legally significant difference between the drawing and the specimen will cause the examining attorney to deny the application.


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