Trademark Status and Document Retrieval TSDR

TSDR has replaced TARR at USPTO.gov

(TSDR is at http://tsdr.uspto.gov/)

TSDR is a database from the USPTO that integrates the previous TDR and TARR, as Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR). TSDR provides access to viewing, printing, and downloading snapshots of the data the USPTO stores about a trademark application or registration.

The features of TSDR include:


Why is the TSDR important? The USPTO uses document steps to advance a trademark application through the necessary steps to get to final disposition of registration or abandonment. Each of these steps has one or more documents that show the step. Trademark applicants and registrants should monitor the status of their applications during the pendency of an application (at least every six months is recommended) and after filing an affidavit of use or excusable nonuse under §8 or a renewal application under §9 of the Trademark Act. An applicant or registrant has a duty to monitor status just in case something goes wrong or needs attention and notice was not received. (Emails or postal addresses get changed, notices get put in spam folders, etc.) The USPTO may deny petitions to reactivate abandoned applications and cancelled registrations when a party fails to inquire about the status of a pending matter within a reasonable time. A registrant should monitor the status because the registration date is used to determine when post-registration maintenance documents such as Sec. 8 and affidavits of use & Sec. 9 renewals are due. FAILURE TO FILE THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS WILL RESULT IN CANCELLATION OF THE REGISTRATION. Note that TESS links break very soon after viewing but TSDR links stay LIVE and can be saved and pasted into charts and communications.

Document Viewing and Downloading: Note that an electronic copy of any of these documents is available online by selecting the name of the document in the list on the TSDR at http://tsdr.uspto.gov for the applicable serial number or registration number of a mark. Any of these documents can be downloaded by ticking the box on the left of the TSDR records and selecting the Download PDF button at the bottom.


Frequently Asked Questions About the Records Available on TSDR

What does REFUSAL – DIGITALLY CREATED/MOCK-UP SPECIMEN mean? It means that the trademark examiner believes the specimen of use was created by computer editing to make it appear like the trademark was in use when it actually wasn’t. A faked specimen. Here’s an explanation from an actual refusal:

Digitally created or altered image or mockup is not an acceptable specimen. Registration is refused because the specimen appears to consist of a digitally created or altered image or a mockup of a depiction of the mark on the goods or their packaging and does not show the applied-for mark as actually used in commerce in International Class 15. Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45, 15 U.S.C. §§1051, 1127; 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(1)(iv), 2.56(a), (c); TMEP §§904.04(a), 904.07(a).

An application based on Trademark Act Section 1(a) must include a specimen showing the applied-for mark as actually used in commerce for each international class of goods identified in the application or amendment to allege use. 15 U.S.C. §1051(a)(1); 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(1)(iv), 2.56(a); TMEP §§904, 904.07(a). “Use in commerce” means (1) a bona fide use of the applied-for mark in the ordinary course of trade (and not merely to reserve a right in the mark), (2) the mark is placed in any manner on the goods, packaging, tags or labels affixed to the goods, or displays that directly associate the mark with the goods and have a point-of-sale nature, and (3) the goods are actually sold or transported in commerce. See 15 U.S.C. §1127.

An image of a product or packaging that has been digitally created or altered to include the mark or a mockup of how the mark may be displayed on the product or packaging is not a proper specimen for goods because it does not show actual use of the mark in commerce. See 15 U.S.C. §1127; 37 C.F.R. §2.56(c); TMEP §904.04(a).

In this case, the specimen appears to be digitally created, or a mock-up, because the mark shown on the goods is not in a location that would seem typical for these types of goods. Moreover, the mark is crookedly displayed on the goods, suggesting that the mark was haphazardly placed on the goods for purposes of submission with the application. Therefore, the specimen does not show actual use of the mark in commerce.

What does  Registration Certificate mean? This means the trademark has registered with the USPTO and a certificate will be mailed to the correspondent on record.


What does ‘Notice of Acceptance of Statement of Use’ mean? This means the Statement of Use has been approved for an Intent to Use application that has already been through its Opposition Period with no opposition and the trademark should register in 4-6 weeks.


What does ‘Publication & Issue Review Complete’ mean? This means the final review prior to publication has been completed, application will be published in the Official Gazette when it is registered (for an Intent to Use application that has already gone through its opposition) or will be published for opposition (for a Use in Commerce application that has not gone through its Opposition Period yet.


What does ‘TRAM Snapshot of App at Pub for Oppostn’ mean? *What does ‘TRAM Snapshot of App at Pub for Oppostn’ mean?  The TRAM snapshot is a table that presents the data on Publication Approval. When this documents appears in the DOCUMENTS it means that the trademark application was approved by the examining attorney for publication for opposition.  Sample of TRAM snapshot.


What is TRAM? The Trademark Reporting and Monitoring (“TRAM”) System. For applications filed through TEAS, the data provided by the applicant is loaded directly into the USPTO’s automated TRAM System. TRAM is used by USPTO employees to obtain information about the location and status, prosecution history, ownership, and correspondence address for applications and registrations. The TRAM Snapshot of App at Pub for Oppostn’ document appears twice in an Intent to Use application even though the second time it is not going to publish for opposition again, it is just going to publish in the Official Gazette.


What does  ‘ITU Unit Action’ mean? This means that the USPTO Intent to Use (ITU) department is in the process of taking action on an Intent to Use Application. Actions include approving or disapproving a Statement of Use (SOU) or Alleged Amendment of Use (AAU) or approving or disapproving a request for an extension of time to submit a specimen of use.


What does ‘Statement of Use’ mean? What does ‘Specimen’ mean? What is an ‘Allegation of Use’?

A Statement of Use is one form of An Allegation of Use, a sworn statement signed by the applicant or a person authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant attesting to use of the mark in commerce. (Since most trademarks are now filed electronically, this is usually an electronic signature.) With the Allegation of Use, the owner must submit: a filing fee of $100 per class of goods/services; and one specimen. A specimen is a sample of the use of the mark that acts as evidence that the mark has been properly used in commerce for each class of goods/services. Note that the type of sample appropriate for submission is different for a trademark (sales of goods) than it is for a service mark (sales of services). An Amendment to Allege Use (AAU) is another type of Allegation of Use but differs in the time period when it is submitted. See Additional Requirements For Intent to Use Application for more information.  


What does ‘SU - Non-Final Action - Mailed’ mean? This means that the Statement of Use was refused, typically a specimen refusal. Registration is refused because the specimen does not show the applied-for mark in use in commerce in connection with any of the goods and/or services specified in the statement of use.  This is a refusal under Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45. See https://stepstoatrademark.com/specimenselectionreview.html for more information.


What is a ‘Notice of Allowance’ (NOA)?  A written notification from the USPTO that a specific mark has survived the opposition period following publication in the Official Gazette, and has consequently been allowed for registration. It does not mean that the mark has registered yet. Notices of allowance are only issued for applications that have been filed based on "Intent to Use". The Notice of Allowance is important because the issue date of the Notice of Allowance establishes the due date for filing a Statement of Use (SOU). After receiving the Notice of Allowance, the applicant must file a Statement of Use or a request for an extension of time to file a Statement of Use within 6 months from the issue date of the Notice. If the applicant fails to timely file a Statement of Use or a request for an extension of time to file a Statement of Use, the application will go abandoned.


What does ‘Notice of Acceptance of Statement of Use’ mean? This means the Statement of Use has been approved for an Intent to Use application. According to the USPTO Data Visualization Center (4th quarter 2019), the target time for processing a Statement of Use (SOU) is 15 days and the estimated time from filing an SOU to registration is 3.5 months.


What does ‘Amendment and Mail Process Complete’ mean? This means that changes have been made to the trademark record. These changes may have been made by the applicant in a Response to Office Action (ROA) or Voluntary Amendment or may have been made by the examiner in an Examiner’s Amendment or may have been made by the applicant using some other form.

What does ‘Offc Action Outgoing’ mean? This document is usually a refusal to register based on a problem with the application or a problem with the trademark itself. The most common refusals are a LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION (conflicting mark) with a registered or pending trademark. Other common refusals are for MERELY DESCRIPTIVE trademarks or for goods and services identification problems. Occasionally, this is not a refusal but an examiner’s amendment documenting changes that the examiner has made usually as a result of an agreement with the attorney of record or applicant after a telephone conference.

What does ‘XSearch Search Summary’ mean? This is a listing of the LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION trademark search that the examiner did. The procedure like that trademark examiner’s follow is found at Likelihood of Confusion Search. Applicant’s can avoid LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION refusals by conducting similar trademark searches themselves and rejecting trademarks that are confusingly similar to registrations and pending trademarks. The problem with this is that CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR is a ‘term of art’ and is defined by both statutes and case law and is not just a matter of eliminating identical potential marks from consideration.

What does  ‘New Application Entered In Tram’  or ‘new application office supplied data entered in tram’ mean? This document step, ‘new application office supplied data entered in tram’, means that the USPTO has accepted the new application for initial processing and has put it into TRAM, the USPTO database. What is TRAM? The Trademark Reporting and Monitoring (“TRAM”) System. For applications filed through TEAS, the data provided by the applicant is loaded directly into the USPTO’s automated TRAM System. TRAM is used by USPTO employees to obtain information about the location and status, prosecution history, ownership, and correspondence address for applications and registrations. The information from TRAM is available to the public through the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval System (“TSDR”) database, available on the USPTO’s website at http://tsdr.uspto.gov.  Note that there is no right to privacy on most trademark information entered by the applicant. Trademark applications are public records.


What does Publication & Issue Review Complete mean? This change in the record means that the USPTO believes the trademark would be entitled to registration under the current circumstances (assuming an acceptable AAU or SOU were filed for an intent-to-use application and that no new issues were found). If the application is an intent-to-use application, the examiner may re-examine an application when the Statement of Use (SOU) is filed because there may be new issues involved with the specimen submitted, new issues of likelihood of confusion with marks that registered during the lag time or other issues.

When will my trademark register? This depends on if the application is currently a 1(a) or a 1(b) application and depends on the date when it was published for opposition. A 1(a) trademark application that is not opposed should register about 11 weeks after publication.

What does ‘Response to Office Action’ mean? This means a response has been filed by the applicant or applicant’s representative to an Offc Action Outgoing. A response must fully respond to the examiner’s office action in order to be accepted or the application may be issued a final refusal.

What does ‘TEAS Revoke Appointed Attorney’ mean? This means that an attorney has been changed (not necessarily revoked). The same form is used to appoint or revoke but the record always indicates Revoke in either situation.

What does ‘Notice of Pseudo Mark’ mean? The USPTO assign pseudo marks to some new applications to assist in searching the USPTO database for conflicting marks. Pseudo marks have no legal significance and will not appear on the registration certificate. The pseudo-mark entries in the USPTO databases allow likelihood of confusion searches for a particular word or term to automatically retrieve phonetic equivalents or pictorial equivalents that have been appropriately pseudo-marked. A pseudo mark may be assigned to marks that include words, numbers, compound words, symbols, or acronyms that can have alternative spellings or meanings. Pseudo-marks provide an additional search tool for locating marks that contain an intentionally-altered spelling of a normal English word or that contain the literal equivalent to a pictorial representation of the word in a design mark.

What does ‘Design Search Code Corr Project’ mean? The USPTO may assign design search codes, as appropriate, to new applications and renewed registrations to assist in searching the USPTO database for conflicting marks.  They have no legal significance and will not appear on the registration certificate. DESIGN SEARCH CODES are numerical codes assigned to figurative, non-textual elements found in marks.  For example, if your mark contains the design of a flower, design search code 05.05 would be assigned to your application.  Design search codes are described on Internet Web page http://www.uspto.gov/tmdb/dscm/index.html.

What does ‘Notice of Abandonment’ mean? This means that the identified trademark was abandoned in full usually because a response to the Office Action was not received within the 6-month response period or a Statement of Use (SOU) was not filed within the 6-month response period after a Notice of Allowance. If the delay in filing a response or SOU was unintentional, you may file a petition to revive the application with a fee. If the abandonment of this application was due to USPTO error, you may file a request for reinstatement. Please note that a petition to revive or request for reinstatement must be received within two months from the mailing date of the notice of abandonment.

What does ‘Suspension Letter’ mean? A suspension letter suspends the action on an application. An application may be suspended for a variety of reasons [such as a likelihood of confusion with a pending application]. These include waiting for the disposition of a cited prior pending application to be determined or waiting for an assignment of ownership to be recorded. Applicants do not have to respond to suspension letters.

What does ‘ITU Extension Approval’ mean? This means that another 6 months has been approved in which to file a Statement of Use in an Intent to Use application. Applicant must continue to file extension requests every 6 months calculated from the date the Notice of Allowance was issued until a Statement of Use is filed.  Please note that a Statement of Use cannot be filed more than 36 months from the issuance date of the Notice of Allowance.

What does ‘Request to Divide’ mean? An applicant can split an application into separate parts containing different International Classifications in the event that one classification has been held up by refusals or lack of a Statement of Use for all classifications or other reasons. This allows the individual parts to be prosecuted separately. When the applicant files a request to divide goods/services that are in use from goods/services that are not yet in use, the USPTO puts the goods/services in use in the newly created (child) application, and retains the goods/services not in use in the original (parent) application.  More child applications may later be created from the parent application.

What does ‘Notice of Publication’  or ‘Notice of Actual Publication’ mean? This is a written statement from the USPTO notifying an applicant that its mark will be published in the Official Gazette. If the examining attorney assigned to an application raises no objections to registration, or if the applicant overcomes all objections, the examining attorney will approve the mark for publication. The notice of publication provides the date of publication. Any party who believes it may be damaged by registration of the mark has thirty (30) days from the publication date to file either an opposition to registration or a request to extend the time to oppose. If no opposition is filed or if the opposition is unsuccessful, the application enters the next stage of the registration process. A Certificate of Registration will issue for applications based on use or on a foreign registration under §44, or a Notice of Allowance will issue for intent-to-use applications.

What does "Notification of Notice of Publication" mean? This email notification indicates the future date of publication (the date of the beginning of the opposition period), and allow a user to go to TSDR to download the notice. Then, on the actual date of publication, "Notice of Actual Publication" will appear in the TSDR and will be emailed to the correspondent of record.


What does ‘Examiner's Amendment’ mean? This is a written confirmation of an amendment made to a trademark application. The trademark examining attorney assigned to the application will make the amendment after consultation with an applicant or the applicant’s attorney. The examiner’s amendment is merely a written confirmation of the agreement between the examining attorney and the applicant as to the amendment, and it is also a notice that the amendment will be made. The applicant need not respond to the examiner’s amendment unless the applicant wishes to make further changes to the application.

What does ‘Assigned to LIE’ mean? LIEs (Legal Instruments Examiners) are USPTO personnel that perform reviews and update trademark cases. TMEP 1401.01(a): “A legal instruments examiner ("LIE") will conduct a preliminary review of an amendment to allege use to determine whether it is timely and complies with the minimum requirements of 37 C.F.R. §2.76(c).  If so, the LIE will refer the amendment to allege use to the examining attorney for examination on the merits. With respect to the requirement that the amendment to allege use include a verification or declaration signed by the applicant, or a person properly authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant, that the mark is in use in commerce, the LIE will review the document only to determine whether it bears a signed verification stating that the mark is in use in commerce.  The examining attorney will determine whether the amendment to allege use was filed by the owner.”

How do I ensure receipt of my emails coming from the USPTO? If you have installed Anti-Spam filters or software on your email service, please ensure that legitimate emails from TEAS@uspto.gov are not falsely identified as spam or junk. To help ensure the receipt of emails sent from a USPTO address, please note that the USPTO cannot deliver an email successfully if

1) the destination email address is not valid. Please check that the entered email address does not contain any typographical errors.

2) the destination email address is relaying the email to a different address.

3) the USPTO cannot perform a "reverse DNS look-up" of the destination email address.

4) the destination email server is blocking any email address that ends with "uspto.gov" as spam. NOTE: Email originating from "uspto.gov" may include attachments, so email from the USPTO address with attachments should not be blocked.

(From http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/notices/pub_notice_and_multiple_emails.jsp)


How do I know if the USPTO Trademark Official Gazette publication of my trademark is accurate? (Extracted from http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/notices/Direct-Link-TMOG.jsp) The USPTO has a new Direct Link to Trademark Official Gazette Page Featuring Marks for Applicants Who Authorize Communications by E-Mail. Trademark applicants who have authorized communications by e-mail will receive a direct link to the page on which their mark in the “Trademark Official Gazette Publication Confirmation” notice issued on the date the mark publishes in the Trademark Official Gazette (TMOG).  This will allow applicants to access the page in the TMOG where the mark publishes, rather than having to download the entire TMOG. On the publication date or shortly thereafter, applicants should review the information that appears in the TMOG for accuracy.  To request correction of any USPTO data-entry error after publication, e-mail the requested correction to TMPostPubQuery@uspto.gov.  For applicant amendments or corrections after publication (but before issuance of a Notice of Allowance or registration, including if an extension of time to oppose has been filed), use the post- publication amendment form, available at http://teasroa.uspto.gov/ppa/.


What is a Post Publication Amendment and when can it be used? (Extracted from http://teasroa.uspto.gov/ppa/) You may use the following Post-Publication Amendment form to file an amendment to a trademark application only to file a proposed amendment to an application that (1) the examining attorney has approved for publication; or (2) has already published for opposition but where the registration certificate or notice of allowance has neither been prepared for issuance nor actually issued. This form may be used if an extension of time to file a Notice of Opposition has been filed, but not when a Notice of Opposition has been filed. WARNING: Any post-publication amendment must be submitted and processed at least twenty (20) days before the scheduled registration date or mailing date of the notice of allowance. If the mark is scheduled to register, after registration you may file the proposed amendment as a Section 7 Request Form. If the notice of allowance has issued or is scheduled to be issued, you may submit the proposed amendment when filing the statement of use. For more information about the post-publication amendment process see the TEAS help pages for the following applicable categories:

    Amendment acceptable and no republication of the mark required     Amendment acceptable but republication of the mark required     Amendment not acceptable     Post-Publication amendment to basis     Amendment of application after notice of allowance issues



Few applications go straight to publication without an office action (refusal) so don’t be surprised if you are one of the 66-86% who receive a refusal of some type. Call us at Not Just Patents® Legal Services. We can help.  See Why Not Just Patents? if you have already applied and been refused. See also Why Hire Private Trademark Attorney?


Of  TEAS PLUS and TEAS Standard, which application types receive the most initial refusals? TEAS Standard applications receive more refusals. Which application issues faster? TEAS Plus applications are issuing about 2 months faster.





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For more information from Not Just Patents, see our other pages and sites:      

USPTO TESS Trademark Product Line  TMPL.US.com

TEAS Application TEAS Plus  Where to trademark search?

Trademark e Search  Strong Trademark  

Common Law Trademarks   Trademark A-Z

Grounds for Refusal  ITU unit action

Tm1a.com: Why 1(a)? Tm1b.com: Why 1(b) trademark?

Trademark Disclaimers Trademark/Patent Assignment

Examples of Disclaimers

Patent, Trademark & Copyright Inventory Forms

Trademark Search Method TEAS Standard application    

How to Trademark Search

Are You a Content Provider-How to Pick an ID  Specimens: webpages

Self-authenticating specimen? Trademark ID manual

Using Slogans (Taglines), Model Numbers as Trademarks

Which format? When Should I  Use Standard Characters?

Change Trademark or Patent Ownership    

 Opposition Proceeding    

TTAB Discovery Conference Checklist

Lack of standing is not an Affirmative Defense

Trademark Register FAQ  Definition: Clearance Search

teas plus vs teas standard  approved for pub - principal register

Amend to Supplemental Register?


Trademark Search Hack-Use the same method as USPTO   

Experience appearing before the Board (TTAB)

Trademark Specimen  Statement of Use (SOU)

How To Show Acquired Distinctiveness Under 2(f)

Trademark  Refusal  Opposition Period

Which TEAS application is less likely to be refused?

Examples of Composite or Unitary Marks  

TEAS Plus refusal rate  tesssearch  Brand Positioning Help

What Does ‘Use in Commerce’ Mean?    

Grounds for Opposition & Cancellation

Notice of Opposition trademark sample

What is a trademark specimen?     Trademark Searching


TBMP 309 Grounds Opposition/Canc.  

 Examples and General Rules for Likelihood of Confusion

   DuPont Factors

What are Dead or Abandoned Trademarks?

Can I Use An Abandoned Trademark?  

3D Marks Trade Dress TTAB Extension of Time  

Can I Abandon a Trademark During An Opposition?

Differences between TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard  

Extension of Time to Oppose

 tess search  Examples of Unusual Trademarks

  Extension of time to answer  

What Does Published for Opposition Mean?

What to Discuss in the Discovery Conference

Overcoming Merely Descriptive Refusal  TmkApp Checklist

Likelihood of Confusion 2d  TMK.law–Knowing the law matters

Acquired Distinctiveness Examples  2(f) or 2(f) in part

Definition: Likelihood of confusion

Merely Descriptive Trademarks  Merely Descriptive Refusals

Definition of Related goods and services for trademarks

ID of Goods and Services see also Headings (list) of International Trademark Classes How to search ID Manual

How to TESS trademark search-Trademark Electronic Search System

Extension of Time to Oppose

Geographically Descriptive or Deceptive

Change of Address with the TTAB using ESTTA

Likelihood of confusion-Circuit Court tests  Trademark Glossary

Pseudo Marks    How to Reply to Cease and Desist Letter

Why Hire A Private Trademark Attorney?

 Merely Descriptive Refusal   Overcome Likelihood Confusion

Common Law Rights for Domain Names

Steps in a Trademark Opposition Process   

Published for Opposition  What is Discoverable in a TTAB Proceeding Affirmative Defenses  

What is the Difference between Principal & Supplemental Register?   

What is a Family of Marks? What If Someone Files An Opposition Against My Trademark? Statutory Cause of Action (aka Standing)

Tips for responding to tm Refusal  

DIY Overcoming Merely Descriptive Refusals

TESS Trademark Trademark Registration Answers TESS database  

Trademark Searching Using TESS  Trademark Search Tips

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