Overview
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently revised the amount of time allowed for filing answers in Board proceedings. The Board is required to designate an amount of time “not less than thirty days” in which answers must be filed. Typically, the Board sets this deadline at forty days, but effective as of September 4, 2025, this deadline has been extended to sixty days.
The US is a member of the Madrid Protocol, an international treaty to facilitate international trademark registration, and this change stems from a parallel amendment to the Madrid Regulation Rules. This change should lead to consistency of expectations in Board proceedings and streamlined docket management.
Change in Time Initially Set To File an Answer in a Trial Proceeding Before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, 90 Fed. Reg. 42751 (Sept. 4, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-16930.
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Change in Initial Time Set to File an Answer in a Trial Case Before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), USPTO (Sept. 5, 2025), https://www.uspto.gov/subscription-center/2025/change-initial-time-set-file-answer-trial-case-trademark-trial-and-appeal.
Professionals
Sara Gruber
Associate
