Federal trademarks do not expire on a fixed date the way patents and copyrights do. A registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can stay alive forever, but only if the owner files maintenance paperwork on schedule and keeps using the mark in commerce. Miss a deadline or stop using the mark, and the registration is cancelled. There is no appeal, only a short grace period and, after that, the option of starting over with a new application.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Maintaining Your Federal Registration
The Deadlines That Keep a Registration Alive
Every maintenance deadline runs from the date your registration issued, not from when you first used the mark or filed the application. Two windows matter.
- Between the fifth and sixth anniversary of registration, file a Section 8 Declaration of Use showing the mark is still active in commerce.
- Between the ninth and tenth anniversary, and then every ten years after that, file a combined Section 8 Declaration and Section 9 Application for Renewal to extend the registration for another ten-year term.
Each deadline carries a six-month grace period. Filing during that grace period costs an extra $100 per class on top of the normal fee. Blow past the grace period and the USPTO cancels the registration automatically. No warning letter arrives, no appeal is available, and the only way back is a brand-new application, which means new fees, a fresh examination, and the risk that someone else has started using the mark in the meantime.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Registration Maintenance/Renewal/Correction Forms
What Each Filing Requires
The Section 8 Declaration of Use
The Section 8 is a sworn statement that you are still using the mark in commerce for the goods or services listed in your registration. Along with the declaration, you submit a specimen showing the mark in real-world use and pay a fee for each class in the registration. If you have stopped using the mark for some of the listed goods or services, those items must be deleted from the registration. Leaving them on and hoping no one checks is a bad plan; the USPTO runs audits specifically to catch it, and a bad-faith declaration can sink the whole registration.
The Section 9 Renewal
The Section 9 is a straightforward request to extend the registration for another decade. Because it falls due at the same time as the Section 8 (between years 9 and 10, and every ten years after), the USPTO offers a combined form so you handle both at once.
What Counts as a Valid Specimen
Specimens trip up more owners than any other part of the process. The USPTO wants to see how the mark appears in the marketplace, not a mockup or a logo file sitting on a blank background.
For physical goods, a clear photograph of the product or its packaging showing the mark works. The photo has to be legible, has to show the product well enough that someone can tell what you sell, and has to display the mark exactly as it appears in the registration. A plain box with just a logo on it may be rejected because the examiner cannot tell what is inside. Digitally pasting the mark onto a product photo is grounds for rejection on its own.
For services, a screenshot of a website or advertisement showing the mark tied to the offered services is the standard approach. The mark must appear in connection with the service, not floating on the page by itself.
Filing Fees
All fees are charged per class. A registration covering three classes pays three times the base fee. Current electronic filing fees are:
- Section 8 Declaration of Use: $325 per class
- Section 9 Application for Renewal: $325 per class
- Combined Section 8 and Section 9: $650 per class
- Grace period surcharge: $100 per class for each late filing
Filing both the Section 8 and Section 9 during the grace period runs $850 per class: the $650 base plus a $100 surcharge for each late filing. Filings go through the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). Paper filing costs significantly more and is effectively unavailable for most submissions.
Other Ways a Trademark Can Still Be Lost
Filing on time is necessary, but it is not the only way to lose federal protection.
Abandonment Through Nonuse
A trademark is abandoned when the owner stops using it with no intention of resuming use. Three consecutive years of nonuse creates a legal presumption of abandonment, and a competitor can petition to cancel the registration on that basis. The burden then shifts to the owner to prove intent to resume use. Sporadic or token use meant only to keep a registration alive does not count.
Excusable Nonuse
If circumstances beyond your control force a temporary halt, you can file a Section 8 that claims excusable nonuse instead of submitting a specimen. You must explain the reason for nonuse, state when the mark was last used, describe what you are doing to resume use, and give an approximate date you expect to start again. The USPTO expects a real plan, not a placeholder.
Genericide
A mark can also lose protection by becoming the ordinary word for a whole product category. “Aspirin” and “escalator” started as trademarks and lost that status when the public began using them as common nouns. Once a mark is generic, it no longer identifies a source, and anyone can use it. This is why companies like Xerox and Band-Aid work to discourage use of their brand names as verbs or generic nouns.
Making Protection Stronger After Five Years
Once your mark has been in continuous use for five straight years after registration, you can file an optional Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability. There is no deadline for filing it. The cost is $250 per class.
The benefit is practical. In a dispute, an incontestable registration means the validity of the mark, your ownership, and your exclusive right to use it are treated as settled and cannot be challenged on most of the grounds that would otherwise be available. Competitors are more likely to back off when they see one.
To qualify, the mark must have been used continuously for five years after registration, must currently be in use, and must not be the subject of any pending proceedings or adverse decisions. Marks on the Supplemental Register are not eligible, and a mark that has gone generic cannot become incontestable.
Keeping Contact Information Current
The USPTO sends courtesy reminders about upcoming deadlines, but only to the address on file. If ownership changes through a sale, merger, or other transfer, the new owner should record the assignment through the Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) so the USPTO’s records reflect who owns the mark and where to send notices. Straightforward transfers, name changes, and mergers usually update the ownership database automatically; more complex transfers may require a separate written request to get the records corrected. Keeping the address current is unglamorous work that prevents a maintenance deadline from quietly slipping past.