Section 8 Declaration of Use: Deadlines, Specimens, and Fees

A Section 8 Declaration of Use is a sworn filing that tells the USPTO your federally registered trademark is still being used in commerce. You file the first one between the fifth and sixth anniversaries of your registration date, then again in the year before every ten-year anniversary. Miss both the regular window and the six-month grace period, and your registration is cancelled with no appeal.¹

When the Filing Is Due

Two recurring windows govern the Section 8 obligation. The first opens on the fifth anniversary of your registration date and closes on the sixth. After that, you file once during the one-year window before each ten-year anniversary of registration.¹

If you registered on March 15, 2020, your Section 8 windows are March 15, 2025 through March 15, 2026, then March 15, 2029 through March 15, 2030, and every ten years after that. The ten-year filing is typically combined with a Section 9 renewal, which is what actually extends the registration for another decade. Section 8 proves use; Section 9 renews. At the ten-year mark you need both.¹

Deadlines run from the registration date on your certificate. You can confirm it any time through the USPTO’s Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system, which shows your registration date, filing history, and upcoming maintenance deadlines.²

The Grace Period and What Happens if You Miss It

A six-month grace period runs immediately after the regular window closes. Filing in that window requires an extra $100 per class on top of the standard fee.¹

Miss the grace period too, and the registration is cancelled. No petition, no appeal, no reinstatement. You would need to start over with a new application, losing your original filing date and the priority that came with it. During that gap, a competitor could file for the same or a similar mark, and you would have no federal registration to fall back on.

What the Declaration Must Include

The statute requires the declaration to do two things: state that the mark is in use in commerce, and identify which goods or services from the registration the mark is actually being used with. You also submit a specimen showing current commercial use and pay the fee.³

Before you file, verify the legal name and address of the trademark owner on record. If ownership changed through a sale, merger, or restructuring, update the assignment records with the USPTO first. A mismatch between the registered owner and the person signing the declaration creates problems that can delay or derail the filing.

Any goods or services in the original registration you are no longer offering under the mark must be deleted. You cannot keep them on “just in case.” The declaration is signed under penalty of perjury, so claiming use for goods or services you have abandoned is fraud. The USPTO has aggressively enforced this, cancelling tens of thousands of registrations tied to fake specimens and false claims of use.⁴

Specimen Requirements

The specimen is the evidence that proves the mark is actually in commercial use, not just something you intend to use. What qualifies depends on whether you sell goods or provide services.

Goods

For physical products, the specimen must show the mark on or directly associated with the product as a consumer would encounter it. Labels, tags, and packaging that display the mark all work. For e-commerce sellers, a screenshot of a product listing page is acceptable, but the page must show the mark near the product, include a price, and provide a way to purchase, such as an “add to cart” button.⁵ A webpage that merely mentions the product without a purchasing mechanism reads as advertising to the USPTO, not a point-of-sale display.

Every webpage screenshot must include the URL and the date you accessed or printed the page. You can put them on the image itself or enter them in the dedicated fields on the filing form. Missing either one is a common reason for rejection.⁵

Services

Service providers submit advertising or marketing materials that show the mark connected to the specific services listed in the registration. Website pages describing the services, brochures, and flyers all qualify. The specimen must clearly link the mark to the actual services offered. A business card with just a company name and phone number, without describing any services, will almost always be rejected.

Who Can Sign

The signature must come from the trademark owner or someone authorized to act for the owner. For a business entity, that means a corporate officer, general partner, or someone with firsthand knowledge of the facts who has actual or implied authority. An attorney with a power of attorney from the owner also qualifies.⁶

Because the signature is made under penalty of perjury, the signer is personally certifying that the mark is in use and the specimens are genuine. Having an unauthorized person sign can invalidate the entire filing.

Filing Fees

Current fees for electronically filed maintenance documents:

Section 8 declaration: $325 per class of goods or services.
Section 9 renewal: $325 per class, filed at the ten-year mark alongside the Section 8.
Grace period surcharge: $100 per class, added if you file during the six-month grace period.
Deficiency surcharge: $100 per class if the USPTO finds a problem and you need to correct it.

For a registration covering three classes, a combined Section 8 and Section 9 filing during the regular window runs $1,950. File during the grace period, and it jumps to $2,250. Paper filings cost significantly more per class, so electronic filing is the better option in every case.⁷

How to Submit

Post-registration filings, including Section 8 declarations and Section 9 renewals, are submitted through the USPTO’s Trademark Center.⁸ The system walks you through selecting the correct form, entering your registration number, identifying the goods and services still in use, and uploading specimens.

Specimen files should be high-quality images in JPG or PDF format. If a specimen is rejected, you will need to submit a substitute and may owe an additional $100 deficiency surcharge per class.⁷ Fees are paid at submission, and the system generates a confirmation receipt with a serial number you can use to track the filing.

Excusable Non-Use

If you are not currently using the mark but have not abandoned it, you can file a Section 8 declaration claiming excusable non-use. The circumstances preventing use must be beyond your control, and you must have no intention of abandoning the mark.³

Circumstances the USPTO has recognized include trade embargoes blocking the sale of goods, temporary shutdowns for retooling essential manufacturing equipment, serious illness of a sole proprietor whose business cannot operate without them, and destruction of facilities by fire or natural disaster. You must explain the specific circumstances and describe your plans to resume use. Slow business or simply not getting around to using the mark will not qualify.

The USPTO also provides relief for owners affected by designated disasters, including extended response periods and petitions to revive missed deadlines with fee waivers.⁹

Post-Registration Audits

Even after the USPTO accepts your declaration, you may face additional scrutiny. The post-registration audit program randomly selects accepted filings for a deeper review. If your registration is picked, the USPTO will issue an office action identifying two additional goods or services per class and require specimens proving use for each one.¹⁰

Digitally created, altered, or mockup specimens are not acceptable in an audit response. If you cannot prove use for specific goods or services, those items must be deleted, and each deletion costs $250 per class. Ignoring the audit entirely results in cancellation of the whole registration.¹⁰ That is a strong reason to be honest in the original declaration: claiming use for goods or services you have actually stopped offering only gets worse over time.

If You Are Outside the United States

Foreign-domiciled trademark owners cannot file maintenance documents on their own. Since August 2019, the USPTO has required all foreign-domiciled applicants and registrants to be represented by an attorney licensed in the United States, and the rule covers Section 8 declarations, Section 9 renewals, and every other post-registration filing.¹¹

Domicile means the place you reside and intend as your principal home for individuals, and for entities the headquarters where senior executives direct the company’s activities. If that location is outside the U.S. or its territories, you need U.S. counsel.

Madrid Protocol Registrations

If your U.S. protection comes through an international registration under the Madrid Protocol rather than a direct U.S. application, you file a Section 71 declaration instead of Section 8. The schedule mirrors Section 8: between the fifth and sixth anniversaries of the date the USPTO issued the certificate of extension of protection, then between the ninth and tenth anniversaries and every ten years after. The same six-month grace period with a $100 per-class surcharge applies. Failing to file cancels the registration and invalidates the extension of international protection to the United States.⁸

Consider Filing Section 15 at the Same Time

After five consecutive years of continuous use following registration, you become eligible to file a Section 15 declaration of incontestability. It’s a separate filing, but many owners submit it alongside the Section 8 in the five-to-six-year window. Incontestable status upgrades your registration from evidence of validity to conclusive evidence of validity, ownership, and your exclusive right to use the mark in commerce.¹²

To qualify, the mark must be on the Principal Register, still in use, and free of any adverse court decision or pending proceeding challenging your rights. It also cannot be generic for the goods or services it covers. The electronic filing fee is $250 per class.⁷

Incontestable status is not absolute. Fraud, abandonment, and genericness can still be raised against an incontestable mark. It does eliminate some of the most common attacks, including the argument that a mark is merely descriptive.¹³

After You File

The USPTO currently processes post-registration affidavits in an average of about 56 days, with a target of 90 days.¹⁴ If the examining attorney finds your declaration and specimens sufficient, the USPTO issues a notice of acceptance. If there is a problem, you will receive an office action explaining what to fix and a deadline to respond.

Keep your confirmation receipt and track the filing through TSDR until you receive the acceptance notice. Payment going through is not the same as acceptance. The USPTO can still reject your specimens, require deletions, or select your registration for a post-registration audit after initial acceptance.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1058 – Duration, Affidavits and Fees
2
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post-Registration Timeline
3
GovInfo. 15 USC 1058 – Duration, Affidavits and Fees
4
United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Has Terminated More Than 52,000 Fraudulently Filed Trademark Applications and Registrations
5
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Specimens
6
eCFR. 37 CFR 2.193 – Trademark Correspondence and Signature Requirements
7
United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
8
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Registration Maintenance/Renewal/Correction Forms
9
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Disaster Guidance for Trademark Customers
10
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post Registration Audit Program
11
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Rule Requires Foreign Applicants and Registrants to Have US-Licensed Attorney
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1065 – Incontestability
13
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Declaration of Incontestability of a Mark Under Section 15
14
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Processing Wait Times