When does trademark expire [Deep Research]

Last updated : Sept 11, 2022

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What is the expiration date of a trademark?

Unlike patents and copyrights, trademarks do not expire after a set period of time. Trademarks will persist so long as the owner continues to use the trademark. Once the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), grants a registered trademark, the owner must continue to use the trademark in ordinary commerce.

How long can a trademark be renewed?

In the United States, a federal trademark can potentially last forever, but it has to be renewed every ten years. If the mark is still being used between the 5th and the 6th year after it was registered, then the registration can be renewed.

How often must a trademark be renewed?

In other words, you can keep your trademark registered for as long as it is kept in use, but you must renew it every 10 years. Returning to our example, if your trademark registered on June 1, 2010 it must be renewed between June 1, 2019 and June 1, 2020.

What happens if I let my trademark expire?

If you let your trademark expire, you leave it open for another company or user to register and use it. If the products or services are different than yours, the other company may have an easier time acquiring your trademark. How do I renew a trademark?

Can you lose a trademark?

You can lose a trademark in a variety of ways. You can lose a mark through abandonment. A mark will be considered abandoned if you stop using it for three consecutive years and you have no intent to resume its use. You can also lose a mark through improper licensing or improper assignment.

Can you buy an expired trademark?

If the mark has been abandoned for three to five years, odds are, you're in the clear. That's the span that the USPTO requires trademarks to be maintained, meaning if the proper paperwork hasn't been filed, it's potentially up for grabs. The risk comes from the Lanham Act.

Can you lose a trademark if you don't protect it?

If you don't enforce your trademark, you risk losing reputation, business, sales, customers, and more to the infringer. There's also a concept in trademark law called abandonment. Generally, if you don't use your mark for three years or more, it's considered abandoned.

What are the three types of trademarks?

What you'll learn: Arbitrary and Fanciful Trademarks. Suggestive Trademarks. Descriptive Trademarks.

Can a trademark be renewed indefinitely?

Registered trademarks have a limitation period of ten years. If the trademark is not being used for a period of five years then it may be cancelled at the request of another party. The holder of a trademark is at the liberty to renew the trademark indefinitely every ten years.

How much is a trademark?

No matter how you file, you will pay a minimum of $250 to apply for a Federal trademark. But considering the importance of your trademark, and the potential complexities you face when filing, it's not a bad idea to use a lawyer or filing service.

Do you have to keep paying for a trademark?

Once you apply, you may need to pay additional fees, depending on your filing basis. After your trademark registers, you will need to pay maintenance fees periodically to keep your registration alive.

How do you get a dead trademark back?

If your trademark has fallen into 'dead' or 'abandoned' status unintentionally, you may petition the USPTO within 60 days of the Notice of Abandonment. After the 60 days have lapsed, or if you cannot document the abandonment was unintentional, you will need to file a trademark application with the USPTO.

Can you revive a trademark?

If your application is abandoned but you still want to pursue a trademark registration, you may be able to revive your application by filing a petition.

How do I revive a lapsed trademark?

You will have to file a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to revive the application within two months after the Notice of Abandonment has been posted and within six months after the USPTO electronically posts that the application has been abandoned.

What if someone is using my trademark?

If the person or entity receives your letter and continues to use your trademark, it's time to file a lawsuit. The suit will get filed in federal court if it spans more than one state. If the infringement is local, it may get filed in a state court.

How long can one be protected by trademark law?

How long is a mark protected? A trademark can be protected in perpetuity if regularly monitored and properly maintained. The period of protection is ten (10) years from the date of issuance and is renewable for a period of ten (10) years at a time.

Can you sue for trademark infringement without registration?

The Trademarks Act recognises the rights of the owner of an unregistered trade mark to sue for passing off of its goods and also to obtain other remedies. However, an unregistered trade mark owner cannot sue for the infringement of an unregistered trade mark under the Trademarks Act.

Why would a trademark be dead?

A dead trademark is an indicator by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office that a trademark application or registration is no longer actively pending. A trademark will be marked dead when a trademark registration is not renewed or when an applicant does not timely respond to an office action or notice of allowance.

How do I buy a dead trademark?

Registration. To claim the dead trademark you will need to complete an application with the USPTO. Provide your name and address, the name of the dead mark, a statement as to the goods and services that you wish to sell under the mark and a statement as to whether you have attempted to register the mark previously.

How long does intent to use trademark last?

How Long Does it Last? The USPTO will give you six months from the time you file your intent to use application to put the mark in use and file your statement of use. If you need more time, you can file an extension request.

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Comment by Denis Peon

when does the trademark expire hey everyone my name is marcela dominguez i have been a trademark lawyer for close to 10 years now i am super happy that you are watching this video don't forget to hit subscribe down below the red button and make sure you watch this video right here because it will be a great follow-up to this one so you want to know when does the trademark expire well let me tell you something you want to get the word expire out of your vocabulary because the uspto does not refer to trademarks as expired they refer to them as abandon so if you say expired then i'm assuming you mean does the trademark ever lapse does it yeah i know what you mean so let's say you've already registered a trademark and you're wondering does this application have an expiration date do i have to renew it at some point is it a non-perishable application or a non-perishable status meaning i don't really have to do anything with it because it's never going to expire well the truth is that when it comes to trademarks you have to stay on top of your application because if you're not on top of them then the deadline can come and go and your application or your trademark will become abandoned so in this video we are going to cover two things when does a trademark expire and how does the trademark expire now if you want to register a trademark it is going to be pretty important that you listen to everything i'm about to tell you why well because you don't want your trademark to expire surely you're investing a lot of time effort and maybe even money into this application so you don't want to waste any of those things and you don't want to be wasteful so let's get right into it so when does the trademark expire well a trademark doesn't necessarily expire a trademark will become abandoned so now that you know that we should be using the word abandon the question is how does the trademark become abandoned or expired for those of you that still prefer the word expired so a trademark can become expired if you don't use it and that is one of the more common ways that a trademark will expire or become abandoned so if you go to the trademark electronic search system and you type in the word hello you will see a column pop up on the right side of the word hello you will see live or dead so if it's dead it means that it has become abandoned that could be either because they didn't renew or because they didn't use their trademark so let's dive a little bit deeper into why your trademark will expire if you don't use it so if you've been watching my videos you know that use is a requirement to keeping your trademark whether you have a trademark registration certificate already or let's say you're just a common law trademark holder and if you want to know more about common law trademark rights watch that video first because it'll give you context for this one but whether you're a registered trademark owner or whether you are relying on common law trademark rights you have to use your trademark in order to hold it and to be the owner of it and to claim ownership over it and to claim rights over it so you can't use it and then say oh i'm bored i'm not going to use it anymore and then you can't revisit the issue a year later and then say that you're still the rightful owner if in that year period somebody else decided to use it because then that person will make the argument that you stopped using it so were you actually using it for a continuous period of time those things are super super important so what's the overall take-home point what's the overall tip here the overall tip is that you should continue to use your trademark for a continuous period of time and sell under that brand and market under that brand if you plan to be the owner of that trademark so you can't be a trademark squatter and say i really love this name i am the owner of this name and then not do anything with it you can't just not promote it you can't just not market it you can't just say you own it you can't just sue somebody for using it and you haven't actually used it and met the definition of trademark ownership so if that was news to you and you just learned something new make sure that you hit the thumbs up button down below giving me that thumbs up is just a nice little gesture and it could just be your small way of saying thank you marcela for putting this content out so what is another way that your trademark can become abandoned or what's another way that your trademark can expire if you don't file the proper renewal documents then say bye so between the fifth and sixth year there is a very important document that you need to file so if you're at that point where you're approaching the fifth year make sure you watch this video right here because i go into detail there about what you're supposed to do now if you don't file that document then the uspto is going to assume that you haven't been using your trademark and then so your trademark might become abandoned and so like i said if it becomes abandoned then you are going to have wasted the time the effort and the money to put in a trademark application and to get to this point so to avoid wasting energy time and resources make sure that you watch that video so that you know exactly what you're supposed to do between the fifth and sixth year so do you only have to worry about what happens with your trademark between the fifth and sixth years are there other years that are really important to this process well yes the tenth year is also going to be really really important as a small business owner i know that you have a lot of priorities you have a lot of things on your to-do list and i know that staying on top of deadlines for the uspto might seem pretty difficult and kind of annoying so if you need help with that make sure you send us an email it is always free to do so and we can make sure that you don't miss any deadlines so that your trademark application never goes abandoned we want you to maintain your trademark registration with the uspto so if you need help with that like i said make sure you scroll down into the description my goal with this video was to teach you about when a trademark may expire or go abandoned and i know that other attorneys may tell you that as long as you use your trademark it will not expire and that is the partial truth so it is true that you have to continue to use your trademark remember i just told you right here you have to use your trademark in order to maintain ownership over it but if you are a registered trademark holder as in you have a registered trademark certificate issued by the united states patent and trademark office and you want to maintain that registration with the trademark office then it is not enough to just use it you also have to stay on top of the filings which we just talked about so if you don't really care about the registration certificate then by all means just use it but your registration will eventually be abandoned because you don't file these documents that they're expecting you to file i mean your trademark might go abandon if you haven't filed the right documents

Thanks for your comment Denis Peon, have a nice day.
- Lakendra Forbess, Staff Member

Comment by duurzamek

if the trademark registration has lapsed can i use it i'm going to answer that question in the next four minutes i'm angela langlotz trademark and copyright attorney i'm going to spend our time today answering a viewer question so jason bowden distal this is for you jason messaged me and he asked i have a question if a trademark is dead or cancelled and a company hasn't used it within 10 or more years is it safe to register it for my company okay so you go into the trademark database you see the mark that you want to file and you go to look at it and it's dead it's dead so you think wahoo i can use it well not so fast not so fast you might not be able to use it we need to do a little bit more digging now remember that trademark rights are acquired through use right not just registration you have to keep using the mark in order to maintain your trademark rights if you don't use the mark then your trademark rights can be lost irrespective of your registration status so we have to very carefully look at this so just because somebody had their trademark lapse okay and it can lapse for a number of reasons it could have been cancelled can be canceled for non-renewal it can be cancelled because somebody else filed a cancellation proceeding against that trademark it can be cancelled because somebody went in and said we are abandoning this trademark okay so we have to look at the record and see exactly what happened if it's cancelled because somebody else filed a cancellation proceeding then we probably want to investigate whether the people that filed the cancellation proceeding are still using the trademark that they were using when they filed the trademark cancellation proceeding because that mark that they they were using was probably the reason why they had the trademark registration in question canceled right we also have to look at this just because a mark is canceled that doesn't mean that you can still use it because a subsequent applicant may have come in between the time the trademark registration lapsed and the time that you looked at it and got all excited there may have been someone else come in and register a mark that now would be considered confusingly similar to the mark that you're proposing to use so the the bottom line is you really need to look at the record and consider all of the possibilities when you are looking at using any mark not just an abandoned mark but in general if somebody hasn't used a trademark for a number of years we usually say two if you haven't used the trademark and you don't have what we call excusable non-use then the trademark rights would lapse you may still have a trademark registration but somebody could come in and petition to cancel your mark for non-use so if you don't use your trademark the bottom line is you're likely to you to lose it either because you can't renew because you're no longer using the mark or because somebody else sees that you're no longer using it and files a cancellation proceeding so either of those things are possible and there's always the wild card of some intervening filing going on that may also affect your ability to use that trademark that's been canceled so jason i hope this helps you i'm going to tag you in this video so that you know that i answered your question if anyone else has questions you can drop them into the comments underneath the video i will answer them in a future live if you would like more trademark goodness i have a youtube channel you can just go to youtube and search trademark doctor you'll find me there you can also find me on facebook at facebook.com forward slash trademark doctor and online at trademarkdoctor.net

Thanks duurzamek your participation is very much appreciated
- Lakendra Forbess

About the author

Lakendra Forbess

I've studied economic sociology/socioeconomics at Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington and I am an expert in biogeochemistry. I usually feel sad. My previous job was job printer (graphic arts) I held this position for 24 years, I love talking about herp keeping and dambe. Huge fan of Tim Allen I practice pommel horse and collect handbags.

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