USPTO Trademark Deadline Cheat Sheet

Trademark prosecution is governed by a series of firm deadlines. Miss one, and the consequences range from additional fees to permanent loss of rights. This cheat sheet organizes every major USPTO trademark deadline by phase, from initial examination through post-registration maintenance. Keep it bookmarked. You will need it.

What follows is not legal advice for any specific situation, but it is a comprehensive reference that every trademark practitioner should have at hand. The deadlines below reflect current USPTO rules and fee schedules. Fees are stated per class of goods or services unless noted otherwise.

Pre-Registration: Office Action Response Deadlines

Office actions are the most frequent source of time-sensitive deadlines during prosecution. Every trademark application that receives an office action enters a response chain with the following windows:

• Non-Final Office Action Response: 3 months from the issue date. This is the initial response window for both substantive refusals and procedural requirements. If you need more time, you can purchase a single 3-month extension for $125 per class, bringing the total response period to 6 months.
• Final Office Action Response: 3 months from the issue date, extendable to 6 months with the same $125-per-class extension fee. After a final office action, your response options narrow to a Request for Reconsideration, an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), or abandonment.
• TTAB Appeal (Notice of Appeal): Must be filed within 3 months of the final office action (or 6 months with extension). Once the appeal is filed, the TTAB briefing schedule takes over with its own set of deadlines.
• Petition to Revive (if deadline missed): No fixed deadline, but must show the delay was unintentional. Fee is $150 per class. Must include the office action response with the petition.

The critical point for docketing purposes: office action deadlines are measured from the issue date, not from the date you received the notice. If email notification is delayed or missed entirely, the clock is already running. A system that monitors USPTO TSDR directly catches office actions from the official record, regardless of email delivery.

For a deeper discussion of office action response chains and extension tracking, see our Office Action Deadlines pillar page.

Intent-to-Use: Notice of Allowance and Statement of Use

Applications filed on an intent-to-use basis (Section 1(b)) follow a different path after the mark is approved. Instead of proceeding directly to registration, the applicant receives a Notice of Allowance (NOA) and must file a Statement of Use (SOU) demonstrating actual use of the mark in commerce.

• Statement of Use: Due within 6 months of the NOA issue date. The filing fee is $100 per class. The SOU must include a specimen showing the mark as used in commerce for each class.
• SOU Extensions: If you are not yet using the mark, you can request extensions of time to file the SOU. Each extension is 6 months and costs $125 per class. You may file up to 5 extensions, for a maximum total of 36 months (3 years) from the NOA date.
• Extension Requirements: The first extension requires only a statement of ongoing good-faith intent to use the mark. Extensions 2 through 5 require a more detailed explanation of the applicant's efforts to make use of the mark and the reasons use has not yet begun.
• Expiration Without Filing: If neither an SOU nor an extension request is filed before the current period expires, the application is abandoned. There is no automatic grace period for SOU deadlines.

The SOU extension chain is one of the most complex deadline sequences in trademark practice. Each extension generates a new deadline exactly 6 months after the previous one, and missing any single link in the chain results in abandonment. For solo practitioners managing several intent-to-use applications, this is precisely the type of cascading deadline that benefits from automated tracking.

Opposition Period

After the mark is approved by the examiner (or after a successful appeal), it is published in the Official Gazette for opposition. This opens a window for third parties to challenge the registration:

• Opposition Period: 30 days from the date of publication. Any party who believes they would be damaged by the registration may file a Notice of Opposition with the TTAB.
• Extension of Time to Oppose: A potential opposer may request a 30-day extension (no fee required for the first extension). Additional extensions of up to 120 days total are available with consent of the applicant or upon a showing of good cause.

From the applicant's perspective, the opposition period is primarily a monitoring deadline. You cannot extend it or control it, but you need to know when it closes so you can anticipate the next step in prosecution. If no opposition is filed, use-based applications proceed to registration and intent-to-use applications receive the Notice of Allowance.

Post-Registration: Section 8 Declaration (Years 5–6)

Once a mark is registered, the first major maintenance deadline arrives between the 5th and 6th anniversary of registration. This is the Section 8 Declaration of Continued Use:

• Filing Window: Between the 5th and 6th year after the registration date. The declaration must be filed during this one-year window.
• Grace Period: If you miss the filing window, there is a 6-month grace period with a surcharge of $100 per class in addition to the standard filing fee.
• Requirements: A declaration that the mark is still in use in commerce, accompanied by a specimen showing current use for each class. If the mark is no longer in use for some classes, you must delete those classes.
• Consequence of Missing: If the Section 8 declaration is not filed within the filing window or the grace period, the registration is cancelled. There is no petition to revive for missed Section 8 deadlines. The mark is gone.

The Section 8 deadline is among the most dangerous in trademark practice because of the gap between registration and the filing window. Five years is long enough for attorneys to change firms, clients to change counsel, and tracking systems to lose records. For a comprehensive guide to Section 8 filings, see our Section 8 Filing Guide.

Post-Registration: Section 15 Incontestability (After Year 5)

Section 15 allows a registrant to claim incontestable status for the mark, which limits the grounds on which the registration can be challenged:

• Eligibility: The mark must have been in continuous use for 5 consecutive years after registration, with no final adverse decision on the right to use the mark.
• Filing: The Section 15 declaration can be filed at any time after the 5-year mark. It is often filed together with the Section 8 declaration, though it is a separate filing.
• Fee: $200 per class.

While Section 15 is not a deadline in the traditional sense (there is no expiration), it is a strategic filing that most practitioners recommend making at the earliest opportunity. Including it in your docketing workflow ensures it is not overlooked.

Post-Registration: Section 8 & 9 Combined Renewal (Every 10 Years)

After the initial Section 8 filing at years 5–6, the next maintenance deadline is a combined Section 8 declaration and Section 9 renewal at the 10-year mark, and every 10 years thereafter:

• Filing Window: Between the 9th and 10th year after registration, and in each successive 10-year period.
• Grace Period: 6 months after the deadline with a $100 per class surcharge.
• Section 9 Renewal Fee: $300 per class.
• Section 8 Declaration Fee: $225 per class.
• Consequence of Missing: If neither the Section 8 nor the Section 9 is filed within the window or grace period, the registration is cancelled or expired. There is no revival.

For a deeper look at the renewal process, including combined filings and the Madrid Protocol equivalent, see our Section 9 Renewal page.

Madrid Protocol: Section 71 Declaration

Trademark registrations obtained through the Madrid Protocol (international registrations designating the United States) have their own maintenance requirement that parallels Section 8:

• Section 71 Declaration: Due between the 5th and 6th year after the date of registration, just like a Section 8 declaration. The requirements are substantially the same: a declaration of continued use with specimens.
• Grace Period: 6 months with surcharge, identical to Section 8.
• Renewal: Madrid Protocol registrations are renewed through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), not directly with the USPTO. However, the Section 71 declaration of continued use must still be filed with the USPTO.

Practitioners handling both domestic and Madrid Protocol registrations must track both sets of deadlines. The filing windows are similar but the renewal mechanisms differ, and missing the Section 71 declaration results in cancellation of the U.S. protection.

Quick Reference Summary

Deadline	Window	Grace Period	Key Fee (per class)
Office Action Response	3 months (+ 3 mo ext.)	None (petition to revive)	$125 extension
Statement of Use	6 months from NOA	None (extensions available)	$125 extension
Opposition Period	30 days from publication	None	N/A
Section 8 (first)	Years 5–6	6 months + $100 surcharge	$225 filing
Section 8 & 9	Years 9–10, then every 10	6 months + $100 surcharge	$225 + $300
Section 71 (Madrid)	Years 5–6	6 months + surcharge	$225 filing

Why Automated Deadline Tracking Matters

The deadlines in this cheat sheet span months to decades. Some are triggered by events you control (filing an extension), while others are triggered by events you must detect (office actions, NOA issuance). The longer your portfolio, the more deadlines you are simultaneously managing, and the more dangerous a manual tracking system becomes.

DeadlineDocket calculates every deadline from your trademark's prosecution history by reading USPTO TSDR data directly. It generates deadlines automatically when new events are detected, verifies your filings after you submit them, and sends weekly digest emails with your upcoming and overdue items. If you are still tracking deadlines in a spreadsheet, read our analysis of why spreadsheets fall short for trademark docketing.