The office action (official letter) you receive from the USPTO will specify the time period in which you must respond. In most cases, we must receive a response to your office action within three months of the date specified in the heading of the email notice you receive when an office action issues. You also have the option to request to extend this deadline for three months, with a fee. Madrid applicants must respond within six months from issue date, with no option to extend the deadline. In certain limited circumstances, the office action may specify a different response period. However, trademark examining attorneys have no discretion to extend the time period for filing a response. Because the length of the response period may vary, please confirm the specific time period in your office action. If you do not respond by the response deadline, we will declare your application abandoned, the application process will end, and your trademark will fail to register.
The USPTO requires you file your response online through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). When filing through TEAS, the filing date of your response is the date when we receive the transmission. Eastern Time controls for purposes of determining whether your TEAS response form was timely filed. Any submission that arrives as of 11:59 p.m. ET will be given that day's filing date regardless of the USPTO's regular business hours.
Please view the trademark application process timelines for additional information on the trademark process.