Beginning on December 3, 2022, trademark applicants will have three months (with a possible three-month extension), instead of the current six months, to respond to office actions issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the examination and prosecution of the trademark application.

The USPTO fee for requesting a three-month extension of time will be $125 (to obtain a total response period of six-months). The Request for Extension of Time to File a Response must be filed with the USPTO on or before the initial three-month deadline to respond to the office action. If the extension request is granted, the response will then be due within six months of the “issue date” in the office action.

If the response deadline is not met (i.e., failing to respond to the office action or to request an extension on or before the three-month deadline), then the trademark application will be abandoned. A petition to revive the trademark application may be filed if the failure to respond was inadvertent.

Again, the new three-month shortened statutory response period will apply to trademark office actions issued on or after December 3, 2022. But post-registration office actions will not be subject to the shortened three-month response period, however, until October 7, 2023, the following year.

Additional information about this change in trademark prosecution is set forth in the Federal Register Notice.