Letters of Protest

When someone applies to register a mark that conflicts with your rights, you do not always have to wait for the opposition window to act. A letter of protest is a procedural mechanism for placing evidence before the USPTO while the application is still under examination — evidence of your prior registration, of a likelihood of confusion, of descriptiveness, or of other grounds the examining attorney is charged with considering. Accepted and acted on, it can result in a refusal or a required amendment without your ever appearing in the matter.

The mechanism has strict rules, and they do the deciding. A protest is limited to evidence, not argument; it must meet the USPTO's relevance standard; and its timing matters enormously — the standard tightens sharply once the application is published. We evaluate whether your situation fits the tool, assemble the evidentiary record the rules permit, prepare and file the protest, and monitor how the examining attorney responds.

Just as important, we tell you when a letter of protest is the wrong tool. It is not an adversarial proceeding, it carries no right of reply, and in some situations — particularly where the decisive question is who used a mark first — it can prompt an amendment that cures the application's defect while preserving its filing date. Where that risk outweighs the benefit, we recommend the better path, whether that is monitoring, opposition, or direct negotiation. Letters of protest are prepared and filed at a flat fee.