What Is a Trademark Notice of Allowance: Deadlines and Next Steps

A Trademark Notice of Allowance is a letter from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) telling you that your intent-to-use application has cleared examination and the 30-day opposition window without challenge. It is not a registration. You now have six months from the date on the notice to prove you are actually using the mark in commerce, or to ask for more time.¹

Why You Received One

Only applicants who filed under Section 1(b) of the Lanham Act get a Notice of Allowance. That’s the intent-to-use track: you told the USPTO you had a good-faith intention to use the mark in commerce but had not started using it yet.¹ Applications filed on the basis of actual use, under Section 1(a), skip this step entirely and go straight to registration once examination and opposition are done.

The notice is the USPTO’s way of saying your mark qualifies for registration. What’s missing is proof that you’re using it. That proof is your job for the next six months.

The Six-Month Clock and Your Two Options

The day the notice issues, the clock starts. Within six months you need to file one of two things through the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS):

A Statement of Use, if you have started using the mark in commerce on the goods or services listed in the notice.
A Request for Extension of Time, if you haven’t.²

There is no grace period. Do nothing and the application goes abandoned. You’ll need your application serial number to open the correct file in TEAS.³

Filing a Statement of Use

You can file a Statement of Use only when the mark is actually in use in commerce on every good or service listed in the notice.⁴ A complete filing includes:

A verified statement that you own the mark and are using it in commerce.
The date you first used the mark anywhere and the date you first used it in interstate or international commerce. If the filing covers multiple goods in one class, dates for one item per class are enough.⁴
One specimen per class showing the mark as customers actually encounter it.
A filing fee of $150 per class when submitted electronically.⁵

The Statement of Use has to be filed within the six-month window or during a previously granted extension period. Filed before the Notice of Allowance issues, it’s premature and will not be reviewed.⁴

Once the Statement of Use is filed, a USPTO examining attorney reviews it to confirm the specimen shows the mark in commerce and everything else is in order. If there’s a problem, you’ll get an Office Action explaining what needs to be fixed, and you get six months to respond. If the filing is accepted, the USPTO issues a Certificate of Registration. Your original filing date then becomes your constructive use date, giving you nationwide priority over anyone who started using a similar mark after you filed.⁶

What Counts as an Acceptable Specimen

Specimens are where most Statements of Use get rejected, and the rules differ depending on whether you’re registering goods or services.

For goods, the specimen has to show the mark on the product itself, on packaging, on labels or tags attached to the product, or on a point-of-sale display directly associated with the goods.⁷ A photo of the product with the mark on its label works. A website screenshot showing the mark next to the product with ordering information works too. A standalone logo file, a business card, or an invoice that doesn’t connect the mark to the goods does not.

For services, the specimen has to show the mark used in selling, performing, or advertising the services, with a clear connection between the mark and what you offer.⁷ Advertisements, brochures, and website screenshots that show the mark alongside a description of your services all qualify.⁸ For a website screenshot, include the URL and the date you accessed or printed the page.

The USPTO rejects mockups, computer-generated illustrations, printer’s proofs, and digital images of how you plan to use the mark. The specimen must show actual commercial use.⁷

Asking for More Time

If you’re not yet using the mark in commerce, you don’t have to abandon the application. A Request for Extension of Time buys another six months. The first extension costs $125 per class electronically and requires a sworn statement that you still have a good-faith intention to use the mark.⁵

You can file up to five extension requests, each for six months, for a maximum of three years from the notice date.³ The first extension only needs the good-faith statement. From the second request onward, you also have to show good cause by describing your ongoing efforts to get the mark into use. Acceptable efforts include product development, market research, manufacturing, promotional activities, steps to find distributors, and pursuit of regulatory approval.⁹

A useful move: you can file an extension request at the same time you file a Statement of Use, as long as the requested time wouldn’t push you past the three-year limit. That way, if the Statement of Use is rejected, an active extension period is already in place while you fix the problem.⁹

When You’re Using the Mark for Some Goods but Not Others

If your application covers multiple goods or services and you’re using the mark on some but not all of them, you have three options. You can file the Statement of Use covering only the goods or services you’re actually using, which drops the rest from the application permanently. You can file an extension request to buy time for everything. Or you can file a Request to Divide, which splits the application: the goods or services already in use move into a “child” application that can proceed to registration immediately, while the remaining items stay in the “parent” application under the extension timeline. The Request to Divide fee is $100 electronically.⁵

Dividing does not reset any deadlines. The parent application keeps running on the same clock that was already ticking.

If You Miss the Deadline

Miss the six-month window (or a granted extension period) and the USPTO declares the application abandoned. You’ll receive a Notice of Abandonment. Recovering from that is possible but neither free nor automatic.

A Petition to Revive costs $250.¹⁰ The petition needs a signed statement from someone with firsthand knowledge that the delay was unintentional, plus either a Statement of Use with its fee or an extension request with fees for every extension period you missed.¹¹ You must file the petition within two months of the Notice of Abandonment’s issue date. If you didn’t receive the notice, you have two months from the date you actually learned of the abandonment, but no later than six months after the abandonment date appears in USPTO records.¹²

One hard limit: if you have not filed a Statement of Use within three years of the Notice of Allowance, the application is permanently dead and cannot be revived.¹²

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1051 – Application for Registration; Verification
2
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Section 1(b) Timeline – Application Based on Intent to Use Your Trademark in Commerce
3
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Intent to Use ITU Forms
4
eCFR. 37 CFR 2.88 – Statement of Use
5
United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1057 – Certificates of Registration
7
eCFR. 37 CFR 2.56 – Specimens
8
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawings and Specimens as Application Requirements
9
eCFR. 37 CFR 2.89 – Extensions of Time for Filing a Statement of Use
10
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
11
eCFR. 37 CFR 2.66 – Revival of Applications Abandoned Due to Unintentional Delay
12
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Reviving an Abandoned Application