What the Data Says About the First Six Months of the Trademark Modernization Act

Just over half a year since the Trademark Modernization Act came into force and the numbers are already offering a valuable glimpse into how the legislation is being used. In February 2022, 46 petitions had been filed under the act. As of June 2022, that figure had grown to more than 100. So far, the UPSTO has granted petitions and initiated proceedings in more than a third of cases, a decent success rate for an act in its infancy.

How the act is being used

As covered in a previous article, as of February 25, 2022, 46 petitions had then been filed under the act. Of those, 26 were for expungement and 20 for re-examination. In the four months since, the number of total petitions has about doubled. As of June 22, 2022, 56 petitions for expungement have been filed and 50 for re-examination. Of the 106 petitions filed to date, the USPTO has reached a decision on more than half of them (64), granting 43 and initiating proceedings in each of them, for a success rate of around 67%, denying 21 petitions.

Four proceedings have been initiated but were later terminated upon a finding of sufficient use in commerce. A petitioner filed three re-examination petitions against three marks for WATERBIRD and designs, another filed an expungement petition against VSMASH. The office terminated the re-examination and expungement proceedings after reviewing evidence submitted by the registrants indicating that they satisfied the use in commerce requirement.

So far, only one registration has been cancelled – SURFSTAR WAKE & Design (Registration Number 5239764) – because the registrant failed to respond to the petition and corresponding office action within the three-month statutory window.

The office appears to be taking around two months to issue a decision on a petition although some decisions come sooner and some later depending on whether the office requests follow-up information from the petitioner.

Expungements currently outpace re-examinations, but not by much. However, the data tracks the limited window of opportunity to challenge marks that predate the 10-year limit on re-examinations (37 CFR §2.91(b)(1)).

Registration number	Trademark	Type	Filing date
5455237	A BEER FOR ALL TIME	Reexamination	6/14/2022
3974340	BANDIT	Expungement	6/10/2022
5117078	POPLOGIQ	Expungement	6/7/2022
5247218	YOGA FACE	Expungement	6/7/2022
5267700	YOGA FACE· & Design	Expungement	6/7/2022
5937387	INFINIGLIDE	Reexamination	6/6/2022
6321923	JJX	Reexamination	6/6/2022
5965564	GOOD SKIN DAY	Reexamination	6/3/2022
6154717	HIPFOX	Reexamination	6/1/2022
4824343	CALLIOPE	Expungement	5/27/2022
6315915	TRUSTWISE	Reexamination	5/27/2022
5268282	PICSTARS	Expungement	5/26/2022
5432980	SILIWARE	Expungement	5/26/2022
6008537	IKARIA BLU WELLNESS	Reexamination	5/24/2022
6170939	LEG•A•CY MOVIE	Reexamination	5/23/2022
6151317	ZENIA	Reexamination	5/20/2022
6527197	SXKN	Reexamination	5/20/2022
5139801	PRICEWISE	Expungement	5/19/2022
5139802	PRICEWISE & Design	Expungement	5/19/2022
5208051	LYSIM	Expungement	5/17/2022
5023680	NEATEC	Expungement	5/16/2022
5858585	NATURISE	Reexamination	5/16/2022
6033280	PERRYHOME	Reexamination	5/10/2022
5010330	PROSPECT	Expungement	5/9/2022
4758717	NY CHARISMA	Expungement	5/3/2022
6523829	WOLFOX	Reexamination	5/3/2022
6479933	ATMOSPHERE BREWERY	Reexamination	5/1/2022
5024526	TOMORROW	Expungement	4/29/2022
5914937	SURF SIDE	Reexamination	4/25/2022
4482058	F.T.W	Expungement	4/24/2022
5441122	CURLEE GIRLEE	Reexamination	4/22/2022
5403825	CRISTAL ROYAL	Expungement	4/21/2022
6014880	MDW ENTERTAINMENT	Reexamination	4/20/2022
6623090	GOOD & PROPER	Reexamination	4/19/2022
5244092	KISS & TELL	Reexamination	4/11/2022
5527589	NUTRIUM	Expungement	4/11/2022
5238519	REAKTOR	Expungement	4/8/2022
5083701	AGE OF Z	Expungement	4/8/2022
5795704	KARENVILLE	Reexamination	4/8/2022
4999117	EVOKE	Expungement	4/7/2022
5352272	BOTANIC	Expungement	4/7/2022
6432912	QUEKO	Reexamination	4/2/2022
5394329	HARP	Expungement	4/1/2022
2390758	PREVAIL	Expungement	3/31/2022
5782105	ASTROREALITY	Reexamination	3/31/2022
5458676	BBTSHOP	Reexamination	3/31/2022
5735207	ASTROREALITY	Reexamination	3/31/2022
5681148	IRON IMPETIGO	Reexamination	3/28/2022
5461753	WESING	Expungement	3/24/2022
6102744	COMICS GATE	Reexamination	3/23/2022
3919224	POET TREE	Expungement	3/22/2022
5530658	SPI	Expungement	3/22/2022
5965390	SNIPER GANG	Reexamination	3/22/2022
5483058	AQUA ONE	Expungement	3/18/2022
6598284	BOTTLEBANK	Reexamination	3/18/2022
6306596	MECLOMEN	Reexamination	3/16/2022
5491653	KWIKCLAMP	Expungement	3/11/2022
5121361	AIR TAGGING	Expungement	2/28/2022
4623139	LIV	Expungement	2/25/2022
5484079	SOLOPLAY	Expungement	2/25/2022
6592598	LIV	Reexamination	2/25/2022
5690879	JOVIKIDS	Reexamination	2/24/2022
5874588	BLAK MARK-IT	Reexamination	2/21/2022
5248925	GOLO SUPERFUEL	Reexamination	2/19/2022
5527146	Misc. Design	Expungement	2/16/2022
6072800	FRESH BROS	Reexamination	2/16/2022
5023638	ZAKI & Design	Expungement	2/15/2022
5023639	ZAKI	Expungement	2/15/2022
5646212	STRATOSPHERE	Expungement	2/10/2022
5711654	WISELY WITH ADP	Reexamination	2/10/2022
5957659	MYWISELY	Reexamination	2/10/2022
6486443	GOLO	Reexamination	2/9/2022
5082014	AIRFIT	Expungement	2/9/2022
6363739	EVERLOM	Reexamination	2/8/2022
6270857	ESQUIRED	Reexamination	2/6/2022
3960339	HUXLEY THE DYSTOPIA	Reexamination	2/1/2022
4990946	Misc. Design	Expungement	1/28/2022
5095010	AIMTECH	Expungement	1/26/2022
5420324	APEX ARRIVA	Expungement	1/25/2022
6240800	STASH HAUS	Reexamination	1/25/2022
5430366	APEX MOZART	Expungement	1/25/2022
5420325	APEX NEMO	Expungement	1/25/2022
5430355	APEX RED HOT BURNING	Expungement	1/25/2022
5477544	APEX WONDERLAND	Expungement	1/25/2022
6372057	OYU	Reexamination	1/24/2022
5463408	WORLD FAMOUS SALMON TACKLE SALMON SNATCHER GET HOOKED UP	Expungement	1/24/2022
4915973	BIBI	Expungement	1/20/2022
6214676	$COIN	Reexamination	1/20/2022
5510300	HEIKA	Expungement	1/19/2022
5043246	WOW NO COW!	Expungement	1/18/2022
5599372	VSMASH	Expungement	1/18/2022
5322572	RAZ MOBILITY	Expungement	1/14/2022
5239764	SURFSTAR WAKE & Design	Expungement	1/13/2022
6327588	WOOTECHY	Reexamination	1/11/2022
6159781	IWHIN	Reexamination	1/4/2022
5186403	THE COOP	Reexamination	1/3/2022
2822910	SPECIAL FORCES	Expungement	1/3/2022
6206318	WISELYWIRE GLOBAL MONEY TRANSFER	Reexamination	1/3/2022
5939922	WATERBIRD	Reexamination	12/31/2021
5940037	WATERBIRD & Design	Reexamination	12/31/2021
6140514	WATERBIRD & Design	Reexamination	12/31/2021
1974677	A BORDERLESS COMPANY FOR A BORDERLESS WORLD	Expungement	12/31/2021
5461849	AP ANIPROTEIN – PROTEÍNA ANIMAL	Expungement	12/28/2021
5435359	RUBINS	Expungement	12/23/2021
5605675	SELLABLE	Expungement	12/23/2021
5513424	GALAVAVA	Expungement	12/21/2021

Caption: petitions filed as of 22 June 2022, source: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/apply/expungement-and-reexamination-petitions-received

This article originally appeared in World Trademark Review Weekly on June 30, 2022 and is reprinted with permission.

What the Data Says About the First Six Months of the Trademark Modernization Act

How the act is being used

In This Article

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