Petition to Cancel Goes Directly to Registrant

We would like to alert you to a troubling practice at the USPTO that has been brought to our attention. Recently, the attorney of record is NOT being notified when a Petition to Cancel is filed against a registered trademark. This means that the attorney is not notified of the proceeding, only the Registrant directly via the email address used at the time of application.

Although we typically warn clients not to trust any correspondence that purports to be from the USPTO (or other official agency) due to an abundance of scam emails and phone calls, this is an exception. If you receive correspondence from a “uspto.gov” email address and ignore the same, this could result in failing to meet a deadline and default judgement being entered. Due to this issue, we recommend that any email that comes to you from the USPTO indicating that a Petition to Cancel has been filed be forwarded to us AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

In addition, this practice is another reason to ensure that you are entering a good “owner” email address when submitting an application or maintenance document. Using the wrong email address or an email address for a box that is not checked regularly may result in no relevant parties being notified of a cancellation action.

As always, we will keep you updated on any news and developments at the USPTO.