How Long Does It Take to Register a Trademark?

The length of the U.S. Federal trademark registration process can vary. Once filed, an application is typically assigned to an Examining Attorney within about 3 months. The Examining Attorney will firstly review the application to make sure that the applied-for mark can be registered at all. The Examining Attorney will then review the selected classes and sub-classes in the application, make sure that the specimens are acceptable, and that ‘use’ of the mark is proper. Finally, the Examining Attorney performs a search to find possible conflicting marks – including those that look or sound substantially similar to the one in the application.

If the applied-for mark can be registered, no issues are found in the application itself, and if no conflicts are found, then the Examining Attorney will issue an ‘allowance’. An allowance simply means that the mark has passed the USPTO’s internal review, which is oftentimes the biggest hurdle for registration. It is not atypical for this process to take 1-4 months after the application is assigned to an Examining Attorney.

Once the mark is allowed, the application is published for opposition – a period of 30 days during which third parties can ‘oppose’ the mark, if they reasonably believe that registration of the mark in the application will harm them. If no third party opposes the application, then a registration is typically issued 1-2.5 months after that.

Therefore, a period of approximately 8 months from filing to registration is not unusual. There is a possibility that a registration may be granted within 6 or 7 months. It is also worth mentioning that a registration can require much more time (possibly years) if the Examining Attorney issues a refusal or if a third party files an opposition to the application.

If you are interested in more detail related to your situation it is best to speak with an attorney.