In order to obtain federal registration for your trademark, you must file your trademark application with the national trademark office in your country. Lipton, Weinberger & Husick routinely files trademark applications with the US Patent And Trademark Office. An exemplary list of some of the published, allowed and registered trademarks filed through Lipton, Weinberger & Husick is given here |
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Anyone or any company can register their trademark with the US trademark office as long as the same or confusingly similar mark is not previously registered under the same or similar class of goods or services. After the U.S.PTO examiner allows the trademark, the mark is published for opposition in the Trademark Official Gazette. If no opposition is received buy the U.S.PTO within 30 days from the date of publication, the trademark is registered on the Principal or Supplemental Register as the case may be. |
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Registration of trademarks is currently on the increase and almost all trademark owners are choosing to register their trademarks with the U.S.PTO. According to the Accountability and Performance report of the U.S.PTO, 394,368 trademark applications were filed for registration in the year 2007. For more information on the benefits of registration see "Growing Trend of Trademark Registration". |
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Once the mark is registered, Lipton, Weinberger & Husick continues to update your trademark docket, maintain your registration and takes care of all post registration obligations. Clients are informed of upcoming deadlines to avoid abandonment of the application and timely file all post registration forms. |
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For details on maintaining a trademark registration please click here |
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Trademark registration offers several benefits. Some of the key benefits of registering a trademark are: |
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For details on trademark maintenance, keep reading this section or if you have any specific enquiry, contact our trademark attorney Ash Tankha here. |
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I. Section 8 Affidavit |
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The United States Patent And Trademark Office requires the filing of a Section 8 affidavit between the fifth and sixth year after issuance of registration of a trademark or within the 6 month grace period after the expiry of the deadline with an additional fee of $100. The Act further provides that failure to file the affidavit within the fifth and sixth year of registration of a mark or within the six month grace period will result in the registration being cancelled. |
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The affidavit is basically an affirmation that the mark is still in use in commerce. ”Use in Commerce” is defined by the Trademark Revision Act of 1988 as ”bonafide use of the mark in the ordinary course of trade and not made merely to reserve a right in a mark.” If the mark is not in use in commerce, the affidavit must explain the reason for the non-use and state that the non-use is not the result of an intention to abandon the mark. Non use is excusable only if it is caused by factors beyond the registrant’s control. It must be noted that excusable non-use of a registered mark does not include absence of sales due to lack of demand of the product. |
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The 1988 Act provides that a Section 8 Affidavit must include the same information required for a renewal of a mark, that is, a statement of use in commerce as to at least some of the goods and services described in the registration and the submissions of specimens evidencing such use (15 U.S.C §1058 a). This refers to the condition that the affidavit must be accompanied by a specimen of the mark showing current use of the mark on the goods or services covered by the registration. A specimen is required to be submitted for each class of goods or services protected by the registration. Further, the specimens submitted must also conform to the requirements of acceptable specimens when filing a new application of a mark, such as the acceptable pixel and resolution count, etc. |
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It is important to remember that false statements made in a Section 8 Affidavit constitute fraud and this could lead to cancellation of the registration. Therefore, the specimen filed must be one that is in fact used in commerce and not created only for the sake of filing the affidavit within the deadline but in actuality has never been used on the goods and services. |
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A list of documents to be submitted accompanying a Section 8 Affidavit is as follows: |
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Lipton, Weinberger & Husick undertakes the responsibility to file the Section 8 Affidavit on behalf of its clients on receipt of the acceptable specimen and filing fee amount. |
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II. Section 15 – Affidavit of Incontestability |
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Once an application is registered, it can no longer be cancelled on the grounds of prior use or descriptiveness. However, filing an affidavit of incontestability grants an ”incontestable” status to the registrant. This means that the registration becomes conclusive evidence of the registrant’s ownership and exclusive right to use the mark and grants immunity to the mark from attacks on the basis of descriptiveness. |
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Lipton, Weinberger & Husick continually files Section 15 Affidavits along with a Section 8 Affidavit on behalf of its clients. |
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The requirements for a Section 15 Affidavit to be filed are: |
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It is important to note that if the mark has been used in only some goods or services covered in the registration, then only those goods and services must be specified in the statement of continuous use. |
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III. Registration Renewals |
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Once a mark has been registered, this registration needs to be renewed every ten years after the date of registration. In order to renew the registration, the following documents need to be filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office: |
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If the owner of the mark believes that there has been a material alteration to the mark over the 10 year period, he has the option to make a formal application to amend the mark in the registration under Section 7(e). However, this is not mandatory if no material change has been made. |
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Also, if the mark is no longer used on certain goods or services covered in the registration, these goods and services must be deleted on filing the statement of use affidavits and renewals. However, if the mark is used on additional goods or services, the registration cannot be amended to add these goods and services, although a new application may be filed for the same in order to update the owner’s product. |