{"id":3723,"date":"2020-08-19T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T15:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=3723"},"modified":"2020-10-21T18:12:45","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T18:12:45","slug":"trademark-renewal-audit-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Why should trademark registrants prepare for a heightened level of scrutiny upon renewal of their marks?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3724 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-300x157.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"378\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-150x79.png 150w, https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-680x357.png 680w, https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark.png 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Overview of the Trademark Renewal Audit Program<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you registered a trademark and are looking to renew the registration, it is important to be prepared for a heightened level of scrutiny. Why? Because the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspto.gov\/\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>United States Patent and Trademark Office<\/strong><\/a> (USPTO) established a program requiring certain trademark registrants to do more than simply renew their trademark and substantiate their continued use of the items listed in their trademark application, or applications. The new program is an audit whereby the USPTO is requiring trademark registrants to ensure that every item listed is being actively sold in connection with the registered trademark.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>New Audit Program Revealing Inaccurate Trademark Applications<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The USPTO launched the audit program in November of 2017. Since its launch, the USPTO discovered that around 50 percent of registrants needed to delete at least a portion of their listed goods and services. However, it is worth noting that the registrations flagged as needing to be amended were created prior to the launch of this audit program. As a result, there is a good chance that the trademark owners did not review their registrations carefully to ensure that every item listed is being sold actively in connection with the registered trademarks.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What to Expect If You are Selected for a Trademark Audit <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not every trademark owner is going to be subjected to an audit. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspto.gov\/\">According to the USPTO<\/a>, the audits are conducted randomly. In addition, the audit program is currently limited to registrations for which a registrant submitted a renewal filing.<\/p>\n<p>If your mark winds up being selected for an audit, you will receive a \u201cPost-Registration Office Action\u201d notice from a specialist or staff attorney with the USPTO. This notice will then be recorded in the registration\u2019s file in the Trademark Status &amp; Document Retrieval database.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How to Effectively Respond to an Audit<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your mark is selected for an audit, your response needs to have two key components:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Evidence that your trademark is currently used in commerce. All of your goods and service utilizing the trademark need to be accounted for in your response.<\/li>\n<li>A formal statement that is accompanied by a signed declaration or affidavit. Here is a sample statement:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>\u201cThe owner\/holder was using the mark in commerce on or in connection with the goods and\/or services identified in the registration for which use of the mark in commerce is claimed, as evidenced by the submitted proof of use, during the relevant period for filing the affidavit of use.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What Happens If the Audit Raises Red Flags<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the USPTO determines that your response failed to meet the requirements of the audit and your goods and\/or services remain in the registration without acceptable proof of use, expect to receive a second Office Action requesting you provide sufficient proof of use for all remaining goods and\/or services.<\/p>\n<p>The response time for an audit is currently six months from the issuance of the Office Action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key to Prevailing an Audit \u2013 Detailing Active \u201cCommercial Use\u201d of All Goods and Services Claimed in Your Registration Prior to Filing Your Renewal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The best advice to ensure you prevail in a USPTO audit is to work with your <strong>Los Angeles trademark attorney<\/strong> and come up with a strategy for thoroughly vetting each and every item listed in your registration before filing.<\/p>\n<p>If you need assistance with a trademark renewal audit, contact the reputable Omni Legal Group at <strong>855.433.2226<\/strong> to schedule a confidential case review. We are a premier Los Angeles trademark law firm with offices in LA, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills. Our team of experienced <strong>Los Angeles trademark attorneys<\/strong> specialize in protecting your intellectual property and work tirelessly to secure your patents, trademarks, and copyrights. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omnilegalgroup.com\/\">www.OmniLegalGroup.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview of the Trademark Renewal Audit Program If you registered a trademark and are looking to renew the registration, it is important to be prepared for a heightened level of scrutiny. Why? Because the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established a program requiring certain trademark registrants to do more than simply renew their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-patent-and-trademark","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why should trademark registrants prepare for a heightened level of scrutiny upon renewal of their marks? - Omni Legal Group Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you need assistance with a trademark renewal audit. Contact Omni Legal Group at 310.276.6664 or visit www.OmniLegalGroup.com to learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why should trademark registrants prepare for a heightened level of scrutiny upon renewal of their marks? - Omni Legal Group Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you need assistance with a trademark renewal audit. Contact Omni Legal Group at 310.276.6664 or visit www.OmniLegalGroup.com to learn more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Omni Legal Group Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-19T15:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-21T18:12:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-300x157.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Omid Khalifeh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Omid Khalifeh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Omid Khalifeh\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4\"},\"headline\":\"Why should trademark registrants prepare for a heightened level of scrutiny upon renewal of their marks?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-19T15:48:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-21T18:12:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\"},\"wordCount\":632,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-300x157.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Patent and Trademark\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/\",\"name\":\"Why should trademark registrants prepare for a heightened level of scrutiny upon renewal of their marks? - Omni Legal Group Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/trademark-renewal-audit-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Registered-Trademark-300x157.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-19T15:48:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-21T18:12:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4\"},\"description\":\"If you need assistance with a trademark renewal audit. 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