The examiner cleared your mark
Official wording: Approved for publication
The examining attorney has approved your mark for publication. This is the first genuinely good news in the process. It is also the point where the risk shifts from the USPTO to the public.
What happens next
The record moves through publication review and then to 686, published for opposition. Your mark appears in the USPTO Official Gazette, and third parties get a window to formally oppose your registration or request more time to decide whether to.
Who actually opposes
Rarely a stranger. Almost always a business that already owns a similar mark in a related category and runs watch services precisely to catch filings like yours. If your mark sits near an established one, this is where you hear about it.
Approved is not registered
An opposition is a proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board — an adversarial matter with pleadings and evidence, not a form. Do not start describing the mark as registered, or using the R symbol, until the record actually says 700.
If you filed intent to use
An intent-to-use application does not register straight from publication. It moves to a Notice of Allowance, code 688, after which you must show actual use in commerce within the allowed period or file extensions. That is a second set of deadlines, and it catches people who assumed publication meant they were finished.
Confirm this against your own record
Status code descriptions are administered inside USPTO systems and published wording varies slightly between sources. Your file is the authority. Enter your serial number in TSDR to see your current status, every document filed, and any live deadline.
Open TSDRLooking this up for a client rather than for your own mark? We keep a network of licensed attorneys who review the cases that come through us. It is case-by-case paid work and a free listing — never a referral fee or a cut of anything.
What comes before and after
Status 630
Filed, and waiting in the queue
Status 638
An examining attorney now has your file
Status 640
An office action has been counted, but not sent yet
Status 641
Your non-final office action has been mailed
Status 602
Your application was abandoned for failure to respond
Status 700
Your mark is registered