Trademark Abandonment and How to Revive an Application

Why do trademark applications get abandoned?

The most common cause is missing the deadline to respond to an Office Action, which is generally three months (extendable once for a fee). Applications are also abandoned for failing to file a Statement of Use after a Notice of Allowance, or for not paying required fees. Abandonment is an administrative lapse, not a rejection on the merits, which is why revival is often possible.

How do you revive an abandoned application?

File a Petition to Revive within two months of the date of the abandonment notice, state that the delay was unintentional, pay the petition fee, and include the response that was originally due. If the USPTO grants the petition, examination resumes where it left off. Miss the two-month window and you generally must start over with a new application and a new $350-per-class USPTO fee.

How do you prevent abandonment?

Keep your USPTO correspondence email current, calendar every response deadline, and treat an Office Action as urgent. Enrolling in monitoring means you learn about deadlines and refusals early rather than after the application has lapsed. Secure Mark USA tracks these dates and prepares timely responses so applications do not fall through the cracks.

Key takeaways

• Applications are usually abandoned for missing a response deadline, not for a substantive rejection.
• A Petition to Revive must be filed within two months of the abandonment notice.
• You must show the delay was unintentional and include the missing response and fee.
• Miss the revival window and you must refile at $350 per class.
• Secure Mark USA files and monitors applications from $99 plus the $350-per-class USPTO fee.

Frequently asked questions