Trademark Registration. USPTO. Trademark.
Just off the press! The United States Patent &Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced that the USPTO will start sending email reminders to trademark registrants who have “live” registrations, as of January 2015. There are some caveats, among them is that USPTO must have a valid email address on file and the trademark registration must be live, not a dead trademark registration. Email reminders will also be sent to registrants regarding the filing of the Declaration of Continued Use , which is due between years 5-6 after trademark registration.
Trademark Registrants.
In order to ensure that trademark registrants receive email reminders, registration owners should add the USPTO to its “safe senders list.” If trademark registrants have done so in the past, they may want to reconfirm that their email server will accept email from the USPTO and will not treat it as junk mail or spam. It is important to know that despite this effort on the part of the USPTO to make it easier for trademark registrants not to lose their valuable trademarks, it is still the responsibility of the trademark registrant to be on top of any statutory obligations. Any failure by the USPTO to provide the courtesy email reminders or any non-receipt of such reminders will not excuse a registration owner who fails to meet its statutory obligations.
Until next time, I’m Attorney Francine Ward helping you protect what’s yours. What do you think? Law Facebook Fan Page, Law Twitter Feed, Google+, LinkedIn.
