Maintenance & Renewal Calendar
Registration is not permanent unless you feed it. Enter the registration date from the face of your certificate and this tool works out the Section 8 window, the optional Section 15 window, the ten-year renewal, and what happens in between.
The three deadlines that decide whether you keep the mark
| Filing | Window | Fee per class | Miss it and |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 8 declaration of continued use | Between the 5th and 6th year | $325 electronic, plus $100 in the grace period | Registration is cancelled |
| Section 15 declaration of incontestability (optional) | After 5 consecutive years of use | $250 electronic | You lose the stronger incontestable status, nothing else |
| Combined Section 8 and Section 9 renewal | Between the 9th and 10th year, then every 10 years | $325 plus $325 per class, plus $100 grace | Registration expires |
Count from registration, not from filing
Every maintenance window runs from the date printed as the registration date on the certificate. Filers who docket from their filing date are routinely a year or two early, and filers who use first-use date can be dangerously late.
What a Section 8 demands
- A sworn declaration that the mark is still in use in commerce for each item listed.
- A current specimen showing real use, not one recycled from years ago.
- Payment of $325 per class, or payment plus a $100 per class surcharge if filed in the six-month grace period.
This is why registrations lapse silently. The goods in the registration no longer match what the business sells, nobody can find a current specimen, and the deadline passes. Pruning goods you no longer sell before the filing is both cheaper and easier than defending a defective declaration.
Using this tool honestly
The calculator only does arithmetic on dates you supply. It does not know the contents of your file, cannot see whether a filing was already made, and does not account for any status change recorded after the date you enter. Verify against TSDR before relying on a computed date.
Companies send official-looking “renewal” and “directory” invoices by post, sometimes using wording copied from real filings. They are not the USPTO. Check your own file in TSDR before paying any deadline solicitation that arrives by mail.
Frequently asked questions
Will the USPTO remind me when maintenance is due?
No. There is no reminder service for post-registration deadlines. Missing them is the most common way a healthy registration dies, and the loss is not recoverable through the grace period once that closes.
Do I lose anything by skipping the Section 15 declaration?
You keep the registration, but you lose incontestable status. After five years of continuous use, Section 15 closes off several grounds — including mere descriptiveness and primary-surname arguments — that a challenger could otherwise raise against you.
What happens if I miss the renewal entirely?
The registration is cancelled or expires when the grace period ends. There is no petition to reinstate an expired registration for simple non-filing, so the brand has to be refiled from zero and loses its priority position.
More in Fees & Deadlines
Total Cost Estimator
Full lifecycle cost including maintenance filings, not just the filing fee.
Application Timeline
Typical stage-by-stage duration from filing to registration.
Fee Reductions & Payment Methods
Trademarks have no small-entity discount; save by using the ID Manual, and pay by card, EFT, or deposit account.
Refunds, Petitions & Surcharges
Application fees are generally non-refundable; know the surcharges that stack on top of the base fee and the petitions that cost extra.