“Intent to use” (“ITU”) trademark applications must be successfully amended to allege use in U.S. Commerce before proceeding to registration. The applicant has six months from the issuance of a Notice of Allowance (“NOA”) or any extension thereof to commence use in U.S. Commerce and submit a Statement of Use (“SOU”) or file a request for an extension of time to commence use (“RFE”).1
The appropriate step depends on whether the applicant (or its licensee(s)):
- has commenced use on all of the applied-for goods/services;
- has not commenced use on any of the applied-for goods/services; or
- has commenced use on only some of the applied-for goods/services.
The sections below address each of these circumstances separately.
- * An alternative, if applicable, is to complete the process of amending to a foreign application or registration basis, thereby circumventing the pre-registration use requirement. ↩