After you submit your trademark for registration and an attorney at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reviews it, provided there aren’t any clear legal reasons to deny registration, your mark will be published “for the world” in the Trademark Official Gazette.
The Trademark Gazette is published every Tuesday. The gazette is essentially a listing of all trademarks that have been submitted for registration and passed an initial review over the prior week.
Thousands of trademarks are filed on a weekly basis.
You can view a weekly version of the Trademark Official Gazette in PDF format at the USPTO website.
Additionally, because trademark information is public information, you can see details about each mark listed in the gazette as well—this is the same level of detail that you would view in a typical search of the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), also maintained by the USPTO.
The purpose of “publication” is to give other mark holders the opportunity to object to your trademark registration if they believe that your mark is likely to cause damage to their trademark.
When your mark appears in the Trademark Official Gazette, anyone opposed to your mark has 30 days to file an opposition.
If someone does file an opposition you’ll have a chance to respond and continue to seek registration of your mark, though that’s the point at which you’ll probably want to hire a lawyer.
Opposition proceedings are no joke.
The Trademark Official Gazette is a tool the government uses to ensure the trademark registration process is fair by giving existing mark holders a chance to protect their marks if necessary.
It’s important for you to be aware of what the purpose of the Trademark Gazette is, and to remember the importance of policing your own mark as well by monitoring new marks as they are published.
