Can an abandoned trademark application be revived?
Yes, an abandoned trademark application may be revived in certain circumstances. If the abandonment occurred because the applicant unintentionally failed to respond to a USPTO requirement, such as an Office Action or a Statement of Use deadline, the applicant may be able to file a Petition to Revive.
To revive an abandoned application, the applicant generally must:
File a Petition to Revive within the USPTO's required time period.
Show that the delay in responding was unintentional.
Submit the missing response, Statement of Use, extension request, or other required document.
Pay the required USPTO petition fee.
If the petition is granted, the USPTO will restore the application to active status and continue processing it.
Whether something can be registered depends not only on what it is, but on how it is used. The USPTO asks whether consumers would recognize it as a brand for specific goods or services and whether federal law permits registration in that context.
A useful practical test is to ask: when a customer sees this name, phrase, design, or feature, would they understand it as identifying who provides the product or service? If it is only descriptive information, decoration, a common expression, or the ordinary name of the product, registration may be more difficult or unavailable.
Abandonment is different from a final determination that the trademark can never be registered. It usually means the particular application stopped moving forward because a required action was not completed. Depending on the reason and timing, revival or a new application may be possible.
An intent-to-use application allows an applicant with a genuine plan to use a mark to begin the federal application process before actual commercial use begins. Registration cannot issue on the intent alone. At the appropriate stage, the applicant must submit evidence of use through an Amendment to Allege Use or Statement of Use, depending on where the application is in the USPTO process.
Trademark applications can also be delayed, suspended, abandoned, or refused for different reasons. 'Suspended' generally means processing is temporarily paused; 'abandoned' means the application is no longer active; and a 'refusal' means the USPTO has identified a legal basis preventing registration unless the issue can be overcome.