Making Your Mark Incontestable

After a mark registered on the Principal Register has been in continuous use for five years, and assuming there is no final decision adverse to or pending proceeding involving the owner's rights to the mark, the registrant may file an Affidavit of Incontestability (called a Section 15 Affidavit) with the PTO. Although a registrant is not required to file the Affidavit of Incontestability, it provides significant advantages to a trademark owner in that his or her rights to use the trademark become incontestable, meaning that the registration can be challenged only on the basis that the mark has been abandoned, it is functional, it has become generic, or the registration was procured through fraud. Thus, once a mark ...

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