Checking for trademark registration renewal deadlines

The following is an edited transcript of the video below, entitled How to Check Trademark Registration Deadlines.

t’s very important to be timely when renewing trademark registrations with the USPTO. There is a six month grace period allowed, but there’s an extra fee charged then, and after the grace period runs out a registration cannot be renewed, really under any circumstances. And reapplying comes with additional risks and costs. I’ve seen many times when a client has inadvertently let a registration lapse and then reapplied and been denied or encountered difficulties that caused stress, headaches and additional costs.

As a result, calculating the renewal dates is complex, but very important. With the tool I’m about to give you, you’ll see it can be made fairly straightforward. But be on the lookout, it’s made more complex by the scams that come in the mail and often contain offers to help renew your registration and contain misleading dates and information. I would essentially disregard those things that come in the mail that look like scam offers from third parties.

The tip is to use a special tab on the USPTO’s web page. What do you want to do is visit the site at tsdr.uspto.gov.  You’ll see there at the top, there’s a space to input a serial number or registration number. Put in your registration number, and then click the “Status” button. It will take a few seconds, and then you will see data pulled up below with status information on your trademark registration. What do you want to look there is for a tab under the box where you put in the registration, but at the top of all of the rest of the data that’s been pulled, you’ll see a tab that says “Maintenance.” You want to click on that “Maintenance” tab, and there the USPTO lays out the earliest deadline for your next renewal filing and the latest date that it can be filed. Those are the only dates that you need to know.

The tip is to use a special tab on the USPTO’s web page. What do you want to do is visit the site at tsdr.uspto.gov. One more time, that’s tsdr.uspto.gov. You’ll see there at the top, there’s a space to input a serial number or registration number. Put in your registration number, and then click the “Status” button. It will take a few seconds, and then you will see data pulled up below with status information on your trademark registration. What do you want to look there is for a tab under the box where you put in the registration, but at the top of all of the rest of the data that’s been pulled, you’ll see a tab that says “Maintenance.” You want to click on that “Maintenance” tab, and there the USPTO lays out the earliest deadline for your next renewal filing and the latest date that it can be filed. Those are the only dates that you need to know.

Again, don’t be misled by those scams that come in the mail.

And as a general rule, the renewal is due after six years, after 10 years, after 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, etc. The key is that it can be filed in the year before that deadline, up to one year. So the renewal is really due between the ninth and the 10th year, between the fifth and the sixth year, between the ninth and the 10th year, between the 19th and the 20th year, and so on, and so on. To conclude: make sure you know when your renewals are due, set reminders. And I like to revisit my trademark portfolio every January and look for any renewals that are coming due that year.