Michael Atkins - Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Recommend Expect the USPTO to Audit Your Trademark Registration (Email)

This action will generate an email recommending this article to the recipient of your choice. Note that your email address and your recipient's email address are not logged by this system.

Email Article Link

The email sent will contain a link to this article, the article title, and an article excerpt (if available). For security reasons, your IP address will also be included in the sent email.

Article Excerpt:

In 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office launched a pilot program to audit claims of continued trademark use when registrations were renewed. The purpose of the audit was to detect fraud or ignorance of the use-in-commerce requirement. Of the 500 registrations audited, 253 (51%) failed to demonstrate trademark use.

In 2017, the Trademark Rules of Practice were amended to authorize the USPTO to require additional evidence of use when a registration is renewed. Since then, almost 5,000 registrations have been audited. Again, more than half resulted in the amendment to delete goods and services from the registration — presumably, because the owner could not establish use in commerce.

Article Link:

Your Name:

Your Email:

Recipient Email:

Message:

Copyright © 2006-2021, Michael G. Atkins. All rights reserved. I'm a partner and Seattle intellectual property attorney at Atkins Intellectual Property, PLLC, where I focus my practice on issues involving the Lanham Act, including trademark infringement, unfair competition, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin, counterfeiting, cybersquatting, trademark licensing, trademark applications, trademark registrations, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), and the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Thanks for checking out my blog. Please visit again soon!