A deadline is already running.
An office action is not a rejection of your brand. Most are answerable. What kills applications is the window closing.
We cannot guarantee the USPTO accepts a response — that decision is theirs. Check the deadline printed on your own office action in TSDR and do not rely on a date quoted by anyone, including us.
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Find the deadline on your own letter.
Open your office action in USPTO TSDR and read the response date printed on the document. Do not rely on a date quoted by anyone, including us, and do not assume it is six months — the date on your letter is the only one that counts.
Open your record in TSDR
Enter your serial number to see your current status, every document filed, and any live deadline.
Work out which refusal you have
A disclaimer requirement is routine paperwork. A likelihood-of-confusion refusal is a legal argument. Knowing which comes before deciding what to spend.
Send us the serial number
We pull the actual office action ourselves and tell you what you are facing before you pay anything.
Paperwork, or a legal argument?
A disclaimer requirement is routine. A likelihood-of-confusion refusal is advocacy. Our price does not change between them — your odds do, and we tell you which you have before you pay.
Likelihood of confusion — Section 2(d)
The examiner believes buyers could mix your mark up with a registered one. The response usually turns on how related the goods and services really are.
Merely descriptive — Section 2(e)
Your mark describes what you sell. Options include arguing it is suggestive, claiming acquired distinctiveness, or moving to the Supplemental Register.
Specimen refusal
Your specimen does not show the mark used in commerce the way the rules require — a mockup or logo file rather than the product, packaging or point of sale.
Disclaimer requirement
You are asked to disclaim a generic word inside your mark. Routine, and rarely worth fighting.
Start the response now.
Most people send the serial number first and let us read the letter before deciding. If you have already made that decision, this starts the work immediately — the same $299, whether you filed with us, filed yourself, or filed through another firm.
You are asked for your serial number at checkout so we can pull the office action straight away. Not sure yet? Send the serial number using the form above and we will read it first, at no charge.
What people ask when a refusal arrives.
First thing to know: the deadline is printed on your own letter, and it is the only one that counts.
How long do I have to respond to an office action?
The response period is printed on your letter, and that date is the one that governs. Do not assume six months — response periods have changed in recent years. Open the document in USPTO TSDR and read the date on it.
What happens if I miss the deadline?
The application goes abandoned. Reviving it requires a petition, an extra fee and an accepted reason for the delay, and it is not guaranteed. This is the one deadline in the process that is genuinely unforgiving.
How much does an office action response cost?
$299 flat, whatever the refusal turns out to be, with no hourly billing and no second invoice. Traditional firms typically bill this hourly, which is why the same refusal can cost very different amounts elsewhere.
Can I respond to an office action myself?
Sometimes, and we will tell you when. A substitute specimen or an agreed disclaimer is often something an applicant can handle alone. A likelihood-of-confusion refusal is a legal argument, and that is a different job.
Will responding get my trademark approved?
Not necessarily. A well-argued response often clears the refusal, but the examiner may maintain it. If that happens you keep the right to appeal, and we explain the options rather than going quiet.
Do you need my letter before you quote?
We ask for the serial number and pull the office action ourselves, then tell you what you are facing before you pay anything.