The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice that the time for responding to Office Action (OA) of US trademark examination will be shortened from 6 months to 3 months starting from 3 December 2022, which is intended to improve the efficiency of US trademark registration as well as speed up the registration process.

The first stage of the examination is substantive examination, where examiners examine the application to ensure that it meets the conditions of registration. If any issues are discovered, the examiner will issue a non-final office action and the applicant will have 6 months to respond. If the applicant's response does not meet all issues raised, the examiner will issue a final office action providing the applicant with a final 6 months to resolve the issue or to appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. If the applicant does not respond to the Office Action by the deadline, their application will be deemed to be abandoned.

However, the USPTO shorten the 6 months response time starting from 3 December 2022 for any office action (final or non-final) to 3 months, with an additional 3 months extension for a fee of US$125. The shortened response time applies to any type of office action, whether it is issued during the substantive examination, or later during the process of demonstrating intent to use of the trademark, or even post-registration. Meanwhile, the new response period will not apply to post-registration office actions until 7 October 2023.

The goal of this provision is to improve the efficiency of USPTO, which is still dealing with extensive delays caused by an unusually large number of pending applications. Currently, the registration process takes approximately 18-24 months, with an initial delay of 6-9 months from submission to examination. The shortened response window is intended to help expedite the examination process.

Office Actions affected by the new response period