T.M.E.P. § 716.05
Inquiry by Examining Attorney Regarding Suspended Application

Executive summary:

This document contains one section of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (the "TMEP"), Fourth Edition (April 2005). This page was last updated in June 2007. You may return to one either the section index, or to the key word index. If you wish to search the TMEP, simply use the search box that appears on the bottom of every page of BitLaw--be sure to restrict your search to the TMEP in the pop-up list.

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716.05 Inquiry by Examining Attorney Regarding Suspended Application

If the application has been suspended for six months or more, the examining attorney will issue an Office action inquiring as to the status of the matter on which suspension was based, unless the information is available to the examining attorney in the USPTO's databases. If the applicant does not respond to the Office action, the application will be abandoned.

For example, if action is suspended pending the receipt of a copy of a foreign registration, or pending the renewal of a foreign registration, the examining attorney will inquire every six months during the suspension period as to the status of the foreign application or registration. Similarly, for applications that are suspended pending the outcome of a civil action, the examining attorney will inquire every six months as to the status of the proceeding. If the foreign application or the civil action is still pending, a statement by the applicant to this effect is a proper response.

The examining attorney should not issue any inquiry about the status of a proceeding pending in the USPTO (e.g., an inter partes proceeding).