A US trademark is only as secure as the diary entry behind it. We docket US renewals and statutory deadlines against the official USPTO record, reconcile them every month, and escalate before the date rather than after it.
The US renewal regime
- Term. 10 years from the registration date.
- Measured from. The registration date — which matters, because a portfolio docketed off the wrong one of those two dates can be out by months.
- Grace period. 6 months after expiry, with late fees.
- Opposition window. 30 days from publication.
Deadlines beyond renewal
USPTO does not only require renewal. These filings are separate, fall due on their own schedule, and losing the mark for missing one is routine:
- Declaration of use under Section 8, due between the 5th and 6th anniversary of registration
- Combined Section 8 and Section 9 filing with every 10-year renewal
- Optional Section 15 declaration of incontestability, available once the mark has been in continuous use for five years
The US deadline most portfolios get wrong
The USPTO sends no reminder you can rely on, and the Section 8 declaration is the single most common way a US registration is lost. It is not a renewal — it falls due years before the first renewal and is missed precisely because owners are watching the 10-year date.
How we docket US marks
- Reconcile against the register. Every date is taken from the USPTO record, not from a spreadsheet you inherited.
- Dual escalation. A first alert with working time to act, a second as the statutory date approaches, and a named human chasing it.
- Grace-period tracking. The 6 months window is docketed as a separate deadline, because it is a real last chance and not a soft extension.
- Monthly audit. New registrations, assignments and address changes reconciled so the docket does not silently drift from the register.
Frequently asked questions
When does a US trademark need renewing?
10 years from the registration date, calculated from the registration date. The grace period afterwards is 6 months, with late fees applied.
What happens if a US renewal deadline is missed?
Inside the 6 months grace period the mark can be renewed late on payment of a surcharge. After that the registration lapses and the only routes back are discretionary or unavailable — and in the meantime the mark is open for a competitor to register. Recovering a lapsed mark, where it is possible at all, costs many times what the renewal would have.
Can you take over an existing US docket?
Yes, and the first thing we do is reconcile what you hand us against the USPTO register rather than trusting it. Inherited dockets are where the errors live: marks recorded off the wrong base date, assignments never updated, and deadlines that were computed once and never rechecked.
Never miss a US deadline again
Send us the portfolio — a list of marks and numbers is enough to start. We reconcile it against the USPTO register and come back with the live deadline picture, including anything already overdue. See how our trademark docketing service works, or file a new trademark in the United States for a $399 per-class professional fee. Government and official fees are additional, are never marked up, and are confirmed in writing before anything is filed.