Common Status Descriptors
- Lead Office : USPTO -
The TM5 “Common Status Descriptors” (“CST”) Project is designed to aid trademark right holders and other interested parties who may have dealings with two or more partner offices.
Once a national IP office receives an application to register a trademark, that office may assign any one of various “statuses” to that application (or to any resulting registration) depending, among other things, on: (i) actions the office may take with respect to the application (e.g., grants or rejections of requests to register and requests for further information) (ii) actions the applicant may take with respect to the application (e.g., modifications to the application or requests to withdraw the application; and (iii) actions that third parties may take (e.g., requests to cancel registrations or to oppose applications for registration).
Each of the TM5 partners identify the statuses of particular trademark applications or registrations on their respective web sites (and through other means), using terminology that is specific to their offices. While the partners will continue that practice, once the CST is completed, the partners will also identify statuses through a second set of terms that will be common to each of the partners. It is expected that this “harmonized” list may be of great value to right holders and other interested parties who file trademarks, or review trademark registries, in two or more partner offices. In the future, the TM5 partners may encourage other interested IP offices to adopt these common status descriptors as well.
