You’ve Received a Notice of Publication…

Congratulations! Your trademark application is scheduled to publish in the Official Gazette. This means that the Examining Attorney at the Trademark Office has carefully reviewed and approved your application under the Trademark Statute and associated Regulations. Visit the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) database, and enter the Trademark Application Serial Number, to preview the Notice of Publication. 

Incontestable Trademark Registration

What Happens Next?

30-Day Publication of the Trademark Application for Opposition

Other brand owners and affected third-parties have 30 days from the date of publication to oppose your trademark application. If a notice of opposition is filed, your trademark application will be suspended until the opposition proceeding is resolved. If the trademark application is not opposed within 30 days, the application will move forward to registration as a U.S. Trademark. Visit my opposition proceedings page for more information.

Intent to Use (ITU) Applications Only

If your application was filed on an intent-to-use (ITU) basis (in other words, you were not using the trademark when the application was filed), additional steps are required to get the trademark registration. A Statement of Use and Specimen of Use are required to be filed. You don’t need to send anything now. After the opposition period has closed, we will receive a Notice of Allowance, which will set a six-month deadline to submit the required information.

How Long Until My Trademark Registers?

Provided there is no opposition, which rarely occurs, the trademark certificate issues about three months from the Notice of Publication. An opposition can delay the trademark registration process for years.

If your application is an ITU, the trademark certificate will issue three months from the Statement of Use filing.  

For more information about the Trademark Application Process visit my other article, The Trademark Process – Trademark Application Process and Timeline.

Please contact me if you have any questions or comments, or need additional information.