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Filing Of Trademark Petitions With The USPTO
One may file trademark petitions with the USPTO for the reinstatement of a trademark application which has been considered abandoned by the USPTO. Trademark petitions must be filed according to specific procedure.
When Is The Trademark Application Seen As Abandoned?
The application can be perceived as abandoned when the filing of specific documents is not done in time such as a statement of use known as the SOU or when the request for the extension of time to file the SOU is not received.
The word abandoned simply refers to the fact that a trademark application doesn’t have the pending status any longer. One can thus through trademark petitions request that an application become active again. This is known as a Petition to Revive. It should be noted that trademark petitions cannot be done for cancelled trademarks or for one where the registration has expired.
The trademark petitions can only be done when late filing of documents or information, or submission of payments was not done intentionally.
One must file the petition within two months of receiving a notice of abandonment calculated from the mailing date. If a person has not received such a notification, then the date is calculated two months from the date that the person learns about the abandonment.
It is important to check the application status every six months from the original filing date of the trademark. In such instances, it becomes essential to make use of intellectual property attorneys who can monitor the application and file documents in a timely manner as to prevent the risk of abandonment.
We as intellectual property attorneys not only keep clients up to date regarding their trademark application status, but also ensure regular checking of the Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval Database for record of the trademark application progress.
Contact us today for assistance with trademark petitions and registrations in South Africa and for applications at the USPTO.
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