A trademark cancellation is one process available at the Trademark Office for clearing trademarks that, for various reasons, should no longer be registered. Filing or defending a trademark cancellation can be complicated and requires knowledge of nuances of both trademark…
Applicants make amendments in patent applications all the time. Usually, these amendments are made while patent prosecution is active, before a Notice of Allowance. However, you can actually amend the application just before it issues as a granted patent. What…
If you own a registered trademark for a few years, you will receive notices in the mail warning you of a “Pending Trademark Cancellation” or an “Imminent Trademark Expiration.” Be careful when reading these because they may not be legitimate. …
The Patent Office is establishing a separate design patent bar for people to practice design patent prosecution in front of the USPTO. I am generally against this, because I believe it will lead to bad advice being given to inventors…
The Patent Office just announced a SOAR program called “Learn the three-step approach to filing a patent without an attorney and what the USPTO Midwest Regional Office can do for you.” In this program, the PTO teaches inventors how to…
Trademark applications are essential for protecting the unique branding and identity of businesses and individuals. However, the process is not always straightforward, especially when it involves the use of a person’s name or likeness in the application. In such cases,…
Trademark owners must make periodic filings to keep their trademark registrations alive. These are post-registration maintenance filings, and failure to make them correctly will result in the issuance of a post-registration office action and then potentially the cancellation of a…
Most people, trademark attorneys included, use the word “trademark” to refer to any and all types of trademarks. However, there are actually four distinct categories of trademarks. The two main types are trademark and service marks. There are two other…
In March 2023, the Patent Office launched a new First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program. This program speeds up the examination process for patent applications filed by certain applicants. Patent applications take a long time for review. According to USPTO…
A letter of protest is one of the several ways that an outside party can affect a trademark application filed by someone else. Trademark applications undergo an examination or prosecution process that is primarily “ex parte,” which means one-sided or…