Final Rules for Trademark Modernization Act in Effect This Weekend – New Nonuse Procedures Available and Shortened Office Action Deadlines on the Horizon
Attention trademark practitioners: the finalized rules implementing the 2020 Trademark Modernization Act (“TMA”) go into effect this weekend, on December 18, 2021. Significantly, this marks the availability of three new mechanisms for eliminating “deadwood” registrations: petitions for reexamination, petitions for expungement, and a new nonuse (expungement) cancellation ground. We previously wrote in detail about these three changes here. The PTO will begin accepting petitions for reexamination and expungement starting December 27, 2021, but the new nonuse cancellation ground will presumably be available as of the 18th. The chart below compares these new procedures.
Starting in about a year (on December 1, 2022), the office action response period for most trademark applications will shrink to three months from the current six-month response period. But a three-month extension may be requested for a fee of $125, and the response period for Madrid Protocol applications will remain six months.
The TMCA will continue to monitor and provide updates on the impacts of the TMA.
