(a) The Trademark Office will assign the trademark application to a Trademark examining attorney for review in about 6 months to 1 year. The Trademark examining attorney will then notify both you and us if the Trademark examining attorney has any issues (major or minor issues) with your application. This is typically referred to as an office action and a formal response/argument will need to be filed before a given deadline or else your application will be abandoned.  Potential issues in the office action include (1) the existence of prior file applications or registrations, (2) the mark being generic, and (3) the mark being descriptive of the associated goods.

(b) This is when you have the option of saving money and responding to the trademark office action yourself or contacting us to file the response to the trademark office action on your behalf to try and overcome the Trademark examining attorney’s objections/rejections. The charges for responding to the office action are called prosecution charges and typically range between (normally between $350-900).

Please note that since you will be included in all communications from the trademark office: We will not notify you about any action from the trademark office.  You must contact us and pay the associated “prosecution/argument charges” at least 1 month prior to the due date of the office action if you want us to timely prepare and file a response to the trademark office action on your behalf.

(c)  Trademark Publication/ Pre-Registration

If the Trademark Application overcomes all of the issue(s) that the Trademark examining attorney has with the application, he or she will then forward the application to the Publication Stage.

 (d) “Use” Applications

For “Use” Trademark Applications, if no one opposes the potential registration of the trademark application, the Trademark Office will grant the Certificate of Federal Trademark Registration to the trademark.

(e)  “Intent-to-Use” Applications

For an “Intent-To-Use” trademark applications, before the Trademark Office grants the Certificate of Federal Trademark Registration to the trademark, you will still need to submit proof of use of your trademark in interstate commerce/the marketplace and pay a governmental processing fee. If the trademark has not been used in interstate commerce/the marketplace at the period of the notice of allowance, we may file for a time extension to allow additional time to place the product containing the trademark in the marketplace. We are given up to 5-time extensions (30 months total) before a new trademark application will need to be refiled.”