United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 23 April 2002
Reinstatement of Cancelled or Expired Registrations
The Post Registration Section of the United States Patent and
Trademark Office ("USPTO" or "Office") receives requests to
reinstate registrations that expire or that are cancelled because
papers mailed by or to the USPTO are never received. The purpose of
this notice is to inform trademark registrants of the requirements and
time limits for filing a request for reinstatement of a cancelled or
expired registration.
Request for Reinstatement
A registrant may file a request to reinstate a registration if
(1) the registration was cancelled or expired for failure to file (a)
an affidavit under 15 U.S.C. 1058 ( 8 affidavit), (b) a renewal
application under 15 U.S.C. 1059, or (c) a response to a post
registration action refusing a 8 affidavit or renewal application
and (2) the registrant has proof either that (a) the
affidavit, renewal application or response was timely filed or (b) that
non-receipt of the post registration action was due to USPTO
error.1 The evidence that the Office will accept as proof
that a document was timely filed includes: a postcard (identifying the
8 affidavit, renewal application or response) with a USPTO bar code
label indicating the receipt date; evidence as required by 37 C.F.R.
1.8(b), if the documents were filed with a certificate of mailing or
transmission; evidence as required by 37 C.F.R. 1.10(e), if the
documents were deposited as "Express Mail" with the United States
Postal Service; and proof that a proper 8 affidavit or renewal
application was filed through the Trademark Electronic Application
System (TEAS), in the form of a copy of an e-mail confirmation issued
by the Office that includes the date of receipt and a summary of the
submission.
The Office will also accept evidence showing that a failure to
receive a post registration action was due to USPTO error. An example
of such an error is a failure by the USPTO to act upon a written
request to change the correspondence address (see TMEP
603) that was filed before the action was mailed. There is no fee for
filing a request for reinstatement.
Time Limits for Filing Request for Reinstatement
A registrant should file any request for reinstatement promptly
upon becoming aware that it has not received an official action or
notice from the USPTO, or that the USPTO has no evidence of receipt of
registrant's 8 affidavit, renewal application, or response to a post
registration action. While the Office is concerned about the loss of a
registrant's rights in an inadvertently cancelled or expired
registration, the Office must balance this concern with the interests
of third parties who may diligently search USPTO records and rely on
the cancelled or expired status of a registration.
To avoid prejudice to third parties, the Office will deny a
request for reinstatement as untimely if it is not filed within one
year of the date of cancellation or expiration of the registration.
Registrants are advised to periodically check the status of
their registrations within the one-year period of filing a 8
affidavit, renewal application, or a response to a post registration
action. Information concerning the status of a registration may be
obtained by checking the Trademark Application Registration Retrieval
(TARR) database available online at http://tarr.uspto.gov,
or by calling the Trademark Status Line at (703) 305-8747. Notice of
cancellation of a registration under 15 U.S.C. 1058, and notice of
expiration of a registration under 15 U.S.C. 1059 are published in
the Official Gazette.
March 21, 2002 ANNE H. CHASSER
Commissioner for Trademarks
1 If a registrant cannot prove that the cancellation or expiration of its
registration resulted from Office error, the Office cannot grant a request
to reinstate the registration. In such cases, the registrant's recourse is
to either (a) file a new application, and/or (b) file a petition to the
Director under 37 C.F.R. 2.146(a)(3) and (a)(5).