Intent to use

An intent-to-use application lets you claim a filing date before launch, provided you have a genuine good-faith plan to use the mark. It does not register until you prove actual use, and that proof carries its own deadlines and fees.

This is how you hold your place in the queue before you have sold anything. The filing date is the asset: in a contest between two similar marks, the earlier date usually wins, and an intent-to-use application lets you secure that date months before launch.

1. Confirm you have a genuine, documented plan to use the mark. A bare wish is not a bona fide intention and can invalidate the application.
2. File, and secure your priority date.
3. When you launch, file a Statement of Use with a specimen and your date of first use.
4. Diary the Notice of Allowance deadline - six months, extendable, each extension with a fee. Missing it abandons the application.

A founder files intent-to-use three months before launch. A competitor files a similar mark six weeks later. Because the founder's filing date is earlier, they are ahead in the queue - a position that cost nothing more than filing before launch rather than after it.