Soar to Success April 2021

you are depriving your business of this asset and making it more difficult to license the mark or sell the business in the future. Depiction of the Mark: If the trademark is a word mark, then it is referred to as a standard charactermark. This typeof trademarkprotects the wording itself without regard to specific fonts, styles, colors, etc. Other marks, like logos, are referred to as special form drawings. For these, you will need to submit a clear .jpg image of the mark without the TM, SM, or R symbols. Goods/Services: What goods or services are you selling in connection with the trademark? You can only list goods and services that you are actually selling (or have a bona fide intent to sell). Basis for Filing: If your business is already using themark in commerce, then youwould file your application on the “use in commerce” basis. You must provide both the date of first use of the mark anywhere and the date of first use in interstate commerce. Otherwise, you would select the “intent to use” basis. Specimen: The specimen shows how you actually use the mark on your goods or with your services. For products, the mark typically appears on the product itself or on the labeling or packaging. For services, the mark typically appears in connection with advertising or providing the services, i.e. websites, brochures, invoices, etc. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies What happens next? About 3 months after the application is submitted, the USPTO will assign an examining attorney. The examining attorney conducts a trademark search and then makes a legal determination about whether your trademark can be registered. If the examining attorney raises any issues with the application, you will receive an Office Action giving you 6 months to respond. If there are no issues, or once the issues have been resolved, the examining attorney then approves the mark for publication. This gives the general public 30 days to object to the registration of your mark. If there are no objections (or you are successful in overcoming any objections), then the USPTO issues the registration certificate about 11 weeks after publication. Alternatively, if you filed an “intent to use” application, then the USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance. This gives you 6 months to file a Statement of Use (or request additional time to begin using the mark in commerce). Both options incur additional fees, but you can file a request for an extension of time up to 5 times (giving you a total of 36 months to start using the mark in commerce). Altogether, the entire trademark registration process typically takes about 8-12 months, but can go much longer if there are competing applications or opposition proceedings.