Multi-jurisdiction filing desk  /  United States
USfiling code

United States

USPTO · United States Patent and Trademark Office

The one major market where use, not filing, sits at the centre of the system. A registration here is only as strong as the evidence that you are actually selling under the mark.

Trademarks
System
First to use + registration
Madrid Protocol
Member
To registration
~8–14 months
Term
10 years, renewable
Patents & designs
PCT
Member
Utility model
Not available
Hague (designs)
Member
Design term
15 years from grant

No utility model system. Design patents are examined rather than merely registered, which makes them slower to obtain and considerably harder for an infringer to knock out.

What to watch in United States

Four things that decide whether the filing holds

  • Use is the whole system

    Rights arise from use in commerce, not from the filing date alone. Declarations of use fall due between years five and six and at every renewal, and the office audits them.

  • Specimens are examined strictly

    A mockup, a rendering or a website that cannot be ordered from will be refused. The specimen has to show the mark as customers actually encounter it at the point of sale.

  • Foreign applicants need US counsel

    Applicants domiciled outside the United States must be represented by a licensed US attorney. We coordinate that; you keep one point of contact.

  • Designs are patents here

    The US grants design patents, not design registrations. They are examined, take longer than a registration elsewhere, and are correspondingly harder to attack.

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