Legal

Disclaimers

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ExpiredMarks™ is a research and information tool only, not legal advice. Private company, not affiliated with the USPTO. No guarantee that any mark is available. Always confirm status in TSDR.

1. Research and information tool only

  • ExpiredMarks™ helps you research US trademarks whose registration was cancelled or expired per USPTO records, and track their status.
  • Everything here is general information. None of it is legal advice.
  • We are not a law firm. Using the site or emailing us doesn't make us your lawyer.
  • We don't do clearance searches, prepare filings, or file anything with the USPTO.

2. Not affiliated with the USPTO

  • We're a private company. We're not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the United States Patent and Trademark Office or any government agency.
  • We don't use the USPTO seal or logo.
  • We never send official-looking notices or ask for USPTO fees.
  • Official USPTO email ends in @uspto.gov. Official records are in TSDR.
  • Scam warnings: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/protect/caution-misleading-notices

3. Where the data comes from

  • Our records come from the USPTO's free public data, including the Open Data Portal bulk files (https://data.uspto.gov).
  • Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, www.uspto.gov.
  • TSDR is the official status (https://tsdr.uspto.gov). If our page and TSDR differ, TSDR wins.
  • Our copy can lag behind the USPTO. Our editorial cards usually feature a mark at least a week after its status change. That wait doesn't make anything final.

4. No claim of availability

We never claim a name is available, and we make no guarantee that any mark or name is available.

A line like "Registration cancelled per USPTO on March 4, 2024" reports a public record. It is not a statement that the name is free to use, safe, clear or registrable. Someone may still own rights in it. A card, idea, domain suggestion or business plan is not permission to use a name.

5. Why a cancelled or expired registration may still be protected

Someone may still use it

  • US trademark rights come from use, not just registration.
  • An owner who keeps using a name can keep common-law rights with no federal registration.
  • Federal law lets owners of unregistered marks sue over confusing uses (15 U.S.C. §1125(a)).
  • USPTO records don't show these rights.

There may be state registrations

  • A name can be registered with a state. State records aren't in USPTO data.

The owner may still file late

  • Owners get a 6-month grace period, with a surcharge, for late maintenance filings: Section 8 (15 U.S.C. §1058; 37 CFR §2.160) and Section 9 renewal (15 U.S.C. §1059; 37 CFR §2.182).

The record can be restored

  • An applicant can petition to revive an application in some cases (37 CFR §2.66).
  • A registrant who filed on time can sometimes petition to fix a wrongful cancellation or expiration, up to 6 months after the USPTO record shows it (37 CFR §2.146(d)(2)(ii)).
  • So a record can go back to live.

Someone else may have a newer filing

  • A newer pending application or registration for the same or a similar name can block you.
  • Search the whole USPTO database, not just our records.

Famous marks get broader protection

  • A famous mark's owner can stop uses that dilute it, even without confusion (15 U.S.C. §1125(c)).

Nonuse is only a presumption

  • Under federal law, 3 years of nonuse is only prima facie evidence of abandonment (15 U.S.C. §1127).
  • Only a court or the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board can decide that. Our labels don't.

Domains carry their own risk

  • Registering a domain in bad faith that matches someone's mark can break federal cybersquatting law (15 U.S.C. §1125(d)). An open domain is not a free trademark.

6. Thinking of reviving a mark you found here?

Before you use or file any name you found here:

  1. Check TSDR for the current status.
  2. Run a full clearance search. Cover live and inactive federal records, state records, business names, domains, social media and the web.
  3. Talk to a licensed trademark attorney before you use, file, buy a domain or spend money.

A clearance search and an attorney's opinion are the only ways to judge your risk. We can't give you either.

7. Data accuracy

  • We can't promise records are accurate, complete or current.
  • Dates, owners, classes and statuses may be wrong or out of date.
  • Status lines follow the USPTO's words. They report a record. They aren't a judgment about any brand or owner.

8. Tracking alerts

  • Alerts are best-effort. They can be late, missing or wrong.
  • You are responsible for every filing date and decision.
  • Our alerts are not USPTO notices.

9. Comeback cards, community cards and browse pages

  • Only marks whose registration was cancelled or expired per USPTO records get public pages. Live marks never do.
  • A card is a research note and an idea. It's not a claim that a name is available.
  • Community cards are made by visitors and published right away. They're labeled, and they may not have been reviewed by us. To ask for a correction or takedown, email support@expiredmarks.com.
  • If a registration is reinstated, we label it and stop showing domain suggestions for it.
  • Editorial cards are drafted with AI, then batch-reviewed and spot-checked by us. We may not read every card before it appears.
  • Cards don't describe, judge or speak for any past owner.

10. AI-generated text

  • Card ideas and write-ups are made with AI. See our AI Disclosure.
  • They can be wrong. They aren't legal, financial or tax advice and promise no earnings.

11. Products sold elsewhere

  • Brocius (brocius.com) is a DBA of Jack's Inventory Consulting, LLC, the same company that operates ExpiredMarks. It is a separate service, listed on ExpiredMarks with links out. ExpiredMarks may track those referrals. Brocius is sold on brocius.com under that site's own terms and privacy policy.
  • Brocius offers AI business answers ($10/month for 50 questions, with 3 free questions to start), documents ($10 for members, $25 for non-members) and the Advisors membership ($249/month).
  • A business plan or any Brocius answer never makes a name or mark safe to use and is not legal advice.

12. Domain checks

  • Domain checks use public RDAP data. Each result is a snapshot.
  • We don't sell domains, and our registrar links aren't affiliate links. See our Affiliate Disclosure.

13. Corrections

Found a mistake? See Corrections & Takedowns or email support@expiredmarks.com.

ExpiredMarks™, a DBA of Jack's Inventory Consulting, LLC, Sacramento County, CA
PO Box 1221, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741-1221
support@expiredmarks.com