Keep it Legal Blog

Here’s the scene: you file an application to register a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and eagerly await a favorable response. A few months go by. “What are they doing over there? Don’t they know my trademark is a top priority?” Finally, you get an email from the USPTO. The header looks like this: You open up the email and scan down to where it reads “Registration of the applied-for mark is refused because…” This document is called an Office Action. It’s not great news, but don’t panic. In many cases, there is a way to…

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Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a program to expedite service for trademark applications related to certain COVID-19 products and services. How Does It Work? As my regular readers will know, most trademark applications fall into the same queue and only in very specific circumstances can a trademark’s examination by the USPTO be expedited. However, today’s press release by the USPTO states that “in view of the critical need to develop medical products and services to combat the COVID-19 virus and move successful products to market as soon as possible,” they will accept petitions to move…

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