Key deadlines (Section 8 & 15)
- Year 5–6: File the Section 8 Declaration of Use and (if eligible) the Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability.
- Every 10 years:File the Combined Section 8 & 9 Renewal Application.
Proof of use requirements
The USPTO has cracked down on fraudulent specimens. Submit a specimen showing current use in commerce for each listed good or service. If you’re only selling 10 of 50 listed items, delete the 40 you’re no longer using.
Filing a declaration for unused goods is fraud and risks invalidating the entire registration on challenge. Honesty in the declaration is portfolio hygiene, not optional.
Auditing your portfolio
Renewal is an audit opportunity: did the logo change? Has the owner address moved? Is the mark still commercially valuable? Use renewal cycles to prune dead weight, consolidate filings, and align the registered portfolio with the brand portfolio.
The cost of abandonment
Missing a maintenance deadline cancels the registration. Resurrection is effectively impossible after the grace period — you have to re-file as a new application and lose the original priority date. Worse, a savvy competitor may file in the gap. The cost of abandonment is the cost of starting over with worse rights.