By Arpit Kalra and Abhishek Chandok
USPTO’s New deadline to respond to office actions
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on October 13, 2022 has issued a Federal Notice announcing new deadline to respond to office actions issued in respect of pending trademark applications.
According to the notice, the trademark applicants will now have three (3) months (earlier 6 months) to respond to office action issued during the examination of a trademark application. This change only applies to office actions issued on or after December 03, 2022.
The new deadline applies to trademark applications filed through following bases:
1. Use in commerce section 1(a)
2. Intent to use section 1(b)
3. Foreign application section 44(e)
4. Foreign application section 44(d)
The said rule does not apply to trademark applications received under Madrid Protocol section 66(a) and the deadline for responding to office actions will remain at six (6) months.
This deadline of 3 months can be further extended by a period of 3 months upon filing a request for extension along with a fee of 125USD on or before the expiry of initial 3 months deadline.
The USPTO aims to decrease the time taken by a trademark application to mature to registration and provide the flexibility to request additional time to respond to more complex office actions.
For more information of filing and prosecuting trademarks in United States of America, please feel free to contact us at info@ssrana.com.
Prioritized Examination Program for Covid-19 Related Marks- USPTO