The USPTO provides a 6-month grace period after each deadline for an extra fee. This means if you’re up to 6-months late, you can pay $100 per class code and still file your Section 8 Declaration of Use or Section 9 Renewal.

Once you pass the grace period, the USPTO will either cancel or expire your trademark registration, which will give others the ability to file trademark applications that can be confusingly similar to yours.

While it may be possible to regain your trademark rights, it is not without significant costs and possible problems depending on how long you go before trying to regain your trademark and the status of other confusingly similar trademarks.

If this is an issue, we recommend a trademark attorney consult to discuss the issues.