Answer
How long does a trademark last, and how do I keep it?
Lawyers call this: maintenance and renewal · 15 U.S.C. §§ 1058, 1059, 1065
Short answer
A federal registration can last indefinitely, as long as you keep using the mark and file the maintenance documents on time. The first is due between the fifth and sixth anniversaries of registration. After that, a combined filing is due every ten years. Miss a deadline and its grace period, and the USPTO cancels the registration.
Rights in a trademark come from use, not from the certificate. Stop using the mark and the rights can end, registered or not.
What changes the answer
- Whether you are still using the mark
- Each maintenance filing is a sworn statement that the mark is in use on the listed goods or services, with a specimen showing that use. Goods you no longer sell have to come off.
- Where you are in the ten-year cycle
- Between years five and six, you file a Section 8 declaration of use. At year ten, and every ten years after, you file a Section 8 declaration and a Section 9 renewal together.
- Whether you missed the window
- Each deadline has a six-month grace period with a surcharge of $100 per class for each filing. After the grace period closes, the registration is cancelled or expires, and the usual path is a new application.
- Whether you want incontestability
- After five years of continuous use following registration, you may file a Section 15 declaration. It is optional. It limits the grounds on which someone can later challenge your right to use the mark.
The rule
Section 8, between years five and six. The owner must file a declaration of continued use, or of excusable nonuse, on or after the fifth anniversary of registration and no later than the sixth. Otherwise the registration is cancelled. 15 U.S.C. § 1058; 37 C.F.R. § 2.160(a)(1) (2026).
Sections 8 and 9, every ten years. Within the year before each ten-year anniversary, the owner files another Section 8 declaration and a Section 9 renewal application. 15 U.S.C. § 1059(a); 37 C.F.R. §§ 2.160(a)(2), 2.182 (2026).
Grace periods. Each filing may be made up to six months late with a surcharge. 37 C.F.R. §§ 2.160(a)(3), 2.182 (2026).
Section 15, optional. After five consecutive years of continuous use following registration, the owner may file a declaration within one year after the end of that five-year period. With exceptions, the right to use the mark for those goods or services then becomes incontestable. 15 U.S.C. § 1065. Owners often file it with the first Section 8.
Use keeps the rights alive. A mark is abandoned when use stops with intent not to resume, and nonuse for three consecutive years is prima facie evidence of abandonment. 15 U.S.C. § 1127.
Current USPTO fees, filed electronically, as checked on 2026-09-26:
- Section 8 declaration, per class: $325
- Section 9 renewal, per class: $325
- Sections 8 and 9 together, per class: $650
- Grace-period surcharge, per class: $100 for Section 8 and $100 for Section 9
- Section 15 declaration, per class: $250
- Sections 8 and 15 together, per class: $575
Example: a two-class registration at its tenth anniversary costs $1,300 for the combined Section 8 and 9 filing, or $1,700 if both are filed in the grace period.
What to do next
Look up your registration in TSDR and select the Maintenance button. It shows the next filing due and the deadline. Put the opening and closing dates of each window on your calendar now, not in year five.
Before you file, check the goods and services list against what you actually sell today. Delete what you no longer sell. The USPTO audits some maintenance filings and can require more proof of use.
The USPTO does not send invoices or demand renewal fees by mail or phone. Letters from private companies offering to renew your registration are not from the USPTO.
A maintenance filing for a mark in plain, current use on everything listed is routine, and many owners file it themselves through the USPTO’s online forms. If you have stopped selling some listed goods, changed the mark’s appearance, or missed a deadline, Valet Law, PLLC can review the registration and tell you what the filing needs to say.
Attorney review is provided by Valet Law, PLLC, a law firm separate from Trademark Valet, LLC. Keep confidential facts out of public tools. Your first message to Valet Law should identify the parties and the general issue only. Wait until Valet Law confirms it can discuss the matter before sending confidential details.
Who checked this
Reviewed and approved by Brandon Leavitt on 2026-10-02.
General information about how trademark law works. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not make anyone your lawyer.