Author: Eric Waltmire

Eric Waltmire is a registered patent attorney at the Erickson Law Group, PC. He can be contacted at blog@waltmire.com.
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How Can A Delay in Getting A Patent Help Me?

International Airport Board Close-Up with Delayed FlightsMany inventors are shocked to find out that once their patent application is filed, it may take one or two years before the US Patent Office acts on the application, and perhaps another one or two years after that for a patent to be granted (unless an accelerated request is made). This is due to the backlog of work at the US Patent Office.

Does a long delay between the filing date of the application and the patent issue date hurt the inventor’s plans to exploit his invention? What if someone sees his product, copies it and sells it before the inventor has his patent?

Short Commercial Life
For inventions that have a short commercial duration, a long period of time between patent application filing date and patent issue date can be harmful. For example, if an invention was only useful for a particular model cell phone and not useful after the cell phone is replaced by a new model, the long delay could be detrimental to commercial exploitation of the invention, in that a copier of the invention could not be stopped before the commercial life of the product has already dried up.

Longer Commercial Life
However, for most inventions, the commercial viability of the invention lasts well beyond 3 or 4 years. In this case, the delay at the Patent Office to issue a patent is not necessarily detrimental and can work in the inventor’s favor. For example, once an application is on file, the inventor can exploit his invention by advertising, offering the invention for sale over the Internet and undertaking other commercial activities to create a market for the product. This is expensive. On the other hand, the costs of obtaining the patent are spread out and delayed.

Copier Makes a Market
During this “patent pending” period a copier is free to copy the invention since the inventor does not have an issued patent (except in certain usual circumstances). However, the copier will also spend money on creating a market for the product. The copier may be a company that is in a better position to advertise and create consumer demand for the product than the inventor. The copier could market the product for a few years before the inventor’s patent issues.

Patent Owner Takes Over Market
However, if and when a patent issues a few years later, the inventor will be in a favorable negotiating position with respect to the copier. The inventor can sue to stop further sales by the copier and take over the market share for the product that the copier created. Alternatively, the inventor can offer the copier a patent license at a higher rate since the copier has already invested money in developing and marketing the product and is more likely to accept such a license. Still further, particularly in the case where the inventor is not selling a product but wishes to sell the patent, the inventor can offer to sell the patent to the copier at a higher price since the inventor can otherwise sue the copier to stop further sales. The copier would also have an incentive to purchase the patent since the copier can now enforce the patent against other copiers.

Additional Time Added on End of Term
It should also be noted that the term of a US Patent is 20 years from the application filing date. If the duration to obtain the patent was delayed by the Patent Office more than three years from the filing date, the Patent Office grants additional time onto the term of the patent to make up for the delay. In effect, time is added onto the back end of the patent term which is typically more valuable than time at the front end of the patent term.

Beneficial Delay
For some inventors and companies, a delay in obtaining a patent due to the backlog at the Patent Office may actually be beneficial.

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What is Trade Dress?

CocaColaBottle

Trade dress recognizes that product/service packaging or the product appearance itself can act as a source identifier in the same manner as more traditional trademarks, like names and logos. In other words, in some circumstances the product packaging or the product appearance can be so uniquely tied to one company or source of goods/services that the packaging or the product appearance indicates to the customer the source of the goods/services. Many times the trade dress of a product allows the consumer to recognize the source of that product from the product packaging or the product appearance alone without any brand or logo appearing with it.

Product and Service Packaging
One example of product packaging trade dress is the classic Coca Cola bottle shape. Coca Cola has a registered trademark (Tm. Reg. No. 1,057,884) over the shape of the classic Coca Cola bottle, as shown at the top of this post. The Coca Cola bottle shape has been used since 1916. Given the unique shape and Coca Cola’s long and exclusive use of this shape for packaging cola, the purchasing public has come to recognize the shape of that bottle as associated with Coca Cola, even if the Coca Cola name is not on the bottle. Product packaging can also cover traditional box package styling. However, aspects of a service “packaging” can also be protected, such as the appearance and decor of a restaurant.  This is not an exhaustive list, basically any packaging or “dressing” of a product or service might qualify as trade dress.

NavyChair
Tm. Reg. No. 2,511,360

Product Design
Trade dress rights can be generated in the design of the product itself, separate from the product packaging. Generally it takes a longer amount of time and/or more marketing efforts to generate trade dress rights in the shape of a product. One, somewhat controversial example of registered product design trade dress is that of the Navy Chair by Emeco Industries (Tm. Reg. No. 2,511,360). The Emeco Navy Chair is an example where a company has had a long period of use of the product shape. Emeco claims to have sold the Navy Chair since 1978.

An other example of product design trade dress is the configuration of the iPhone being rectangular with rounded corners as shown in Tm. Reg. No. 3,457,218 (“the ‘218 registration”). Apple used this design since 2007 and it was registered in 2008. This is a very short time for a product design to achieve trade dress protection. However the Trademark Office was convinced that the shape had become distinctive .

iPhoneTradeDressReg
Tm. Reg. No. 3,457,218

In Apple’s application to register this trade dress, Apple claimed that the extensive media coverage of the launch of the iPhone, including front page coverage on national newspapers and lead stories on TV news broadcasts, amounted to about $400 million in free advertising. Further, Apple claimed 1 million iPhones were sold in the first 74 days after the product was launched. Apple cited leading trademark scholar Thomas McCarthy’s treatise McCarthy on Trademarks for the proposition that no minimum amount of time is necessary for a mark to achieve distinctiveness in the marketplace. Massive TV and print advertising campaign can promote a trademark or trade dress to distinctiveness within a matter of days or weeks in certain circumstances. Currently Microsoft is challenging the validity of this ‘218 registration at the trademark office.

IphoneColor
Tm. Reg. No. 3,470,983

Apple has a second trade dress registration (Tm. Reg. No. 3,470,983, “the ‘983 registration”) that is more narrow in that it includes more elements than is shown in the ‘218 registration. The ‘983 registration includes color and various elements of the iPhone home screen, whereas the ‘218 registration claimed only the exterior shape of the product. In the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit, in response to Questions 12 and 15 of the Verdict form, the jury found that the trade dress of the ‘983 registration was valid and infringed by some of Samsung’s products.

Trade Dress and Patents
Patents traditionally protect product designs. However, in some cases the product design in not patented. In such cases, trade dress rights might be used to prevent copying of the product design. Therefore trade dress rights can sometimes be used as a quasi-substitute for patent protection. In other cases, when a patent exists over the product design at issue, both trade dress and patent rights might be asserted to prevent copying.

Conclusion
The packaging or the product itself can be protected under trademark law if such packaging or product becomes distinctive in the minds of the consumers so that it is associated with a single source (e.g. your company). Often it can take a period of time for such trade dress rights to develop. However, there is no set period of time, and recognition can be achieve in a short time depending on the extent to which customers have been exposed to the trade dress.

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How long does it take to get a patent?

There are a number of factors that effect the time until you receiving a patent as explained below.

Patentability Searching:
First, if you choose to have a patentability search performed by our office, that generally takes 1 to 3 weeks to complete, depending on the volume of search results and the workload at the time.

Patent Application Drafting:
If we receive all the information about your invention before we start drafting your invention, on average it will take between two to four weeks to draft the application for your review. If shorter time frames are needed, we will strive to achieve a timeline that works with your schedule. In a past expedited circumstance, we were able to file an application within 2-4 days after receiving all the required information about the invention. The time frame within which we could draft a patent application depends on our present workload, the complexity of the invention, and the amount and type of information provided by the client before drafting begins, as well as the number of changes provided by the client after drafting begins. After the patent application is filed you will have “patent pending” status in the United States.

After Patent Application Filing
After filing, the length of time to patent grant depends on whether you begin with a provisional or a non-provisional patent application in the United States. If you begin with a non-provisional patent application, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will place your application in a queue to be examined by a Patent Examiner when the USPTO receives your complete non-provisional patent application.

The present (2019) average wait time until the USPTO provides us with the results of the Patent Examiner’s first substantive review and examination (average pendency to first office action) of the patent application is about 16 months. The average time it takes to obtain a patent from the patent office at this time is about 24.1 months or about 2 years. [See the current wait time statistics at the USPTO website [here] (best viewed with Internet Explorer or Chome)].

The actual amount of time it will take for your patent application to be examined, and if found allowable, to issue into a patent will vary. Some technical areas have a longer or shorter wait time because the USPTO groups patent applications based on the invention’s technology and assign patents to technology groups (known as art units) of examiners at the USPTO for examination. If one art unit has more patent applications in the queue than another art unit, then patent applications assigned to the art unit with relatively more patent application will wait longer for examination and ultimate issuance.

If you decide to file a provisional patent application, the patent office will not put your provisional patent application in a queue to be examined. Instead, a non-provisional patent application must be filed within one year of the filing date of the provisional application, in order to claim the benefit of the provisional application filing date. In the case that you file a provisional and then file a provisional on the one year anniversary date of the filing of the provisional, one additional year will be added to the times listed above. This is true because you have waited that 1 year to have the non-provisional application placed in a queue to be examined.

Prioritized Examination
The USPTO offers a prioritized examination (also known as Track One) for utility and plant patent applications for a limited number of patent application per year. To be considered for the prioritized examination, the applicant must pay additional fee to USPTO. Under the prioritized examination procedure the USPTO assigns a priority status to your application. The USPTO aims to get to a final disposition (allowance or final rejection) of your patent application within 12 months of the prioritized status being granted.

Patent Pending
While your patent application is pending (after the patent application is filed but before the patent is granted) you will have patent pending status. You are not required to wait until you obtain a patent to start exploiting (making, marking, selling, licensing, etc.) your invention. You can begin doing so after the patent application is filed, as long as the patent application fully describes and covers all the elements of your invention that you intend to disclose and use publicly.

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How To Choose a Strong Trademark

Trademark Strength

Not all trademarks are equal in strength. The strength of a mark is a measure of the extent and scope of protection provided for the mark under trademark law. As shown in the diagram, strong marks have a bigger buffer or protection moat around them and thus prohibit competitors from operating within that buffer. Weaker marks have a smaller buffer. The smaller buffer allows competitors to use marks that are more similar to a weak mark than would be allowed for a strong mark, all other things being equal. This post explains how to select a strong trademark so you can keep your competitors at a larger distance from you in terms of the similarity in the marks that competitors use.

A strong mark is one that has a greater level of distinctiveness in relation to the product or service with which it is used.A strong mark should be distinctive rather than descriptive. Descriptive marks that merely describe the goods or services that the mark is used on or in connection with are difficult to protect during initial use. The reasons for this are: (1) to prevent the owner of a mark from inhibiting competition in the sale of particular goods; and (2) to maintain freedom of the public to use the language involved, thus avoiding the possibility of harassing infringement suits by the registrant against others who use the mark when advertising or describing their own products.

Continuum of Distinctiveness TM_Strength-003
The strength of a mark can be categorized along a continuum, ranging from marks that are highly distinctive (e.g.“Pepsi” for cola) to marks that are a generic name (e.g. “coffee”) for the goods or services. The degree of distinctiveness of a mark can be determined by considering it in relation to the specific goods or services. The degree of distinctiveness of a mark corresponds to the degree of protection provided by trademark law. The more distinctive a mark is the more protection provided by law.

Marks that are highly distinctive when used in relation to the goods or services are considered arbitrary or fanciful. Arbitrary and fanciful marks are located on the strong end of the continuum. Next on the continuum are suggestive marks, followed by merely descriptive matter. Last are generic terms. Generic terms are at an end opposite arbitrary and fanciful marks.

PespiFanciful marks include terms that are created for the sole purpose of functioning as a trademark or service mark. Such marks comprise words that are generally unknown in the language, such as PEPSI . The word Pepsi did not exist before Pepsi created it and began advertising under it.

Next, arbitrary marks are those that are commonly used but, when used to identify particular goods or services, do not suggest or describe a significant ingredient, quality or characteristic of the goods or services, such as APPLE for computers. The term apple had nothing to do with computers before Apple Inc. began using the term for that purpose.

Suggestive marks are those that, when applied to the goods or services at issue, require imagination, thought or perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of those goods or services. For example, BEAUTYREST suggests something about the nature of mattresses. beautyrestA suggestive term requires imagination, thought, or perception to reach a conclusion regarding the nature of the goods or services. A suggestive term is different from a descriptive term because a descriptive term immediately tells something about the goods or services.

A mark is merely descriptive if it describes an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose or use of the corresponding goods or services. Descriptive marks may not be registered on the primary register without proof that the mark is widely recognized by consumers–that is the marks have gained “secondary meaning” in the marketplace. For example, BED & BREAKFAST REGISTRY was found merely descriptive of lodging reservations services. However, American Airlines was likely initially merely descriptive (its an airline that flies in America), but over time has become widely recognized and thus protectable.

Generic terms are those terms that the relevant purchasing public understands primarily as the common or class name for the goods or services, e.g. coffee. Generic terms alone cannot be protected as trademarks. However generic terms are sometimes combined with other terms or components to achieve protection over the combination, e.g. Starbucks Coffee. However, the Starbucks Coffee trademark cannot be used to stop others from using the term coffee alone or in combination with other terms not similar to Starbucks.

Selecting Strong Marks
The strongest marks are fanciful and arbitrary marks. However, practically these marks require the most marketing resources to create consumer recognition. Suggestive marks provide a middle ground where the mark suggests a feature of the product or service thereby reducing the amount of marketing resources required to inform your customers as compared to fanciful marks, while still providing a reasonable amount of protection under trademark law.

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Eric Waltmire Presenting on IP for Dupage’s REV3 Innovation Center

Rev3On March 11, 2014 at 6:30pm, REV3 Innovation Center of Dupage is hosting me for a presentation on Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property: Innovation and Branding. Intellectual property plays a role in adding value to most businesses, whether through invention, branding, or the use of other creative works.

My presentation will help business owners, entrepreneurs, and inventors understand how patents and trademarks can be used to protect innovation and business branding. It will provide strategies for protecting intellectual property rights under various scenarios and funding circumstances. Sign up here to attend.

Particularly the presentation will cover the following.

Patents and Invention Protection:

  • What is patentable
  • Patent Searching
  • The U.S. Patent Application Process
  • When to maintain secrecy and when to publicize
  • Seeking Foreign Patent Protection
  • When not to seek a patent
  • When and how to rely on trade secret protection

Trademarks and Brand Protection:

  • Value of trademarks
  • Types of marks
  • Strategies for choosing legally strong marks
  • Proper trademark use
  • Strategies for relying on branding in the absence of patent protection

In addition, the presentation will discuss steps that are needed to obtain and maintain ownership over the intellectual property created by your company, its employees, and its contractors.

REV 3 Innovation Center
REV3 Innovation Center is an incubator and future co-working space in DuPage County. REV3 is focused on helping people and companies manufacture products, software, and technology to drive the third industrial revolution. One aim of REV3 is to provide facilities to allow companies to prototype, build, and assemble small and moderate scale product volumes.

If you are interested in getting involved with REV3, please contact me.

Location
The presentation will be held at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) – Rice Campus at 201 E. Loop Rd., Wheaton, IL 60189.

Please sign up to attend here: http://rev3dupage.com/events/?ee=12.

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How Do I Reduce Patent Costs?

PatentCostsReduceBelow are some steps that you can take to help reduce the cost for us to prepare a patent application on your behalf. These steps are not required as we can draft an application based on your requirements and information. However, by following the guidelines below you can assist in reducing patent preparation costs. See our separate article for general information about how much a patent costs.

Provide a Detailed Description of the Idea at the Start
It is important that you provide the most detailed written description of your idea. The written description should include drawings. The drawings can be hand-sketched. The written description should make reference to individual parts of the invention shown in the drawings. The drawings should have parts labeled by number. The written description should make reference to the parts by name and number.

Generally, short summaries or brochures do not provide sufficient details about the invention and how it works. If we have to request many details about the invention from the inventor, this adds time to the process and drives up the cost of preparing an application. Another scenario where we generally need to put forth a lot of effort to obtain details about the invention is when the inventor only orally describes the invention and we need to draft the application from the oral description.  When the inventors presents a clear and detailed description of the details of invention, its various functions, and the benefits of the invention as compared other inventions in the field, we are able to most efficiently prepare an patent application on the invention.

Start with a Complete Invention
When an inventor keeps inventing during the time when we are drafting the application, the cost of preparing the application can rise substantially. Description of the new features must be added. Sometimes various parts of the patent application need to be rearranged to account for the new developments. Often times drawings will have to be changed or new drawings created to include the new details not provided in the beginning. Adding details after the application drafting is underway generally takes more time, and generates more costs, than if the details had been provided at the beginning.

Provide a First Draft
We can often provide an example patent application that is in the field of the inventor’s invention. A template can also be provided for the inventor to start from to assist in developing a detailed description of the invention. If the inventor drafts a first draft based on a template provided, cost can be reduced. We can then take this first draft as a base and draft a patent application that meets our standards having all the appropriate language and detail.

The cost to prepare a patent application depends on many factors, however the above guidelines can help reduce the cost for us to prepare a patent application for you.

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What is an Invention?

For our purposes, we will focus on patentable inventions. Abstract ideas cannot be patented but many ideas are implemented in a manner (an invention) that falls within what is patent eligible subject matter. There are four general requirements for an invention to be patentable (as a utility patent): (1) it must comprise patent eligible subject matter, (2) it must be new, (3) it must be useful, and (4) it must be non-obvious. Each requirement for a utility patent will be address below. Then the requirements for design patents and plant patents will be discussed.

Patent-Eligible Subject Matter
The subject matter of the invention must fall within one of the patentable subject matter areas set forth by Congress. Patentable inventions include the following: a process/method, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. The courts have stated that Congress had intended patentable subject matter to be very broad and may include anything under the sun that is made by man.

New
The invention must be new (e.g. novel). Patents are only granted on new inventions. Patents are designed to encourage inventing and the disclosure of inventions. Therefore if your invention has already been disclosed to the public in certain predefined ways, then you may be prohibited from obtaining a patent over your invention. A patent novelty search is designed to provide you with some information on whether your idea is new and therefore patentable.

However, an invention may be considered new even if the invention includes parts that are old and known. Many (if not most) inventions are an improvement on an old invention. Even the combination of old parts in a new way can be patentable. Similarly a new method of using a known device my be patentable.

Useful
A patentable invention must have a use or utility. This is the most easy element to satisfy. Unless the invention is only useful as landfill, the invention most likely is useful for something.

Non-obvious
The invention must be non-obvious in view of the prior art (prior inventions and publications, among other things). The non-obviousness requirement is intended to ensure that the invention is sufficiently different or new to warrant patent protection. The non-obviousness requirement is not necessarily synonymous with the common understanding of the word “obvious.” The non-obviousness element is very circumstance dependent. Very small changes may be considered non-obvious. You should be sure to check with an patent attorney before concluding that your invention is obvious.

If your invention meets each of the above requirements, then the invention should be eligible for patenting, assuming all of the procedural requirements are met in filing and prosecuting a patent application.

Design Patents
The above requirements are for utility patents. The ornamental design of an article of manufacture may receive a design patent if it is new and original. Therefore like invention of a utility patent, the ornamental design can be protected if it is new and non-obvious. As design patent protection is narrow, even small changes in the ornamental design of an article may received design patent protection.

Plant Patents
Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

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Use Based v. Intent-To-Use Trademark Applications

There are at least two types of federal trademark applications. The first is a use-based trademark application, also known as a section 1(a) application corresponding to the section of the law that authorizes the application. The second type is an intent-to-use application also known as a section 1(b) application.

Use-Based
A use-based application is one where the applicant is already using the mark in commerce at the time when the application for federal trademark registration is filed. Use of the Mark in commerce can include shipping or selling the goods with the mark or rendering services after advertising those services with the Mark.

Intent-to-Use Based
An intent-to-use application is one where the applicant has not used the mark in commerce or business at the time that the application is filed. The intent to use application allows the applicant to reserve a trademark that they intend to use before actually using it.

This allows the applicant to stake a claim to rights in a name (or other mark) while doing the work that is required to bring the product or service to market. Many preliminary matters such as purchasing supplies, designing logos, designing graphics, designing packaging, and so forth may need to be completed before the product or service can be put on the market. Such activities might require a substantial lead time between the time when the trademark is selected and the time when the products or services are provided. Therefore an intent to use application allows an applicant to reserve a mark so that they do not have a problem running into others who are attempting to register the same or similar name while there working on their product/service start up activities.

Conclusion
A use-based application is for those already using the mark and an intent-to-use application is for those who plan to but are not yet using the mark.

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What is a Patent?

PatentA United States patent is a property right granted from the United States government giving the inventor the right to exclude(stop) others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the patented invention in the United States for a limited period of time (usually 20 years from the filing date).

A patent is a type of intellectual property. Other types of intellectual property include: copyrights that protect the expression of an idea, trademarks that protect product and service source identifiers (brands), trade secrets that protect information and other items that have business value and are not generally known.

A patent provides a time limited monopoly over the invention in exchange for disclosing to the public the details and manner of composition of the invention. The monopoly allows you to prevent others from benefiting from your inventive work without your permission. Therefore you may be able to charge more for your product or service that is protected by a patent, than would be possible if your product was not protected and competitors copied your product and competed with you.

This exchange of a monopoly for public disclosure, allows the science area of your invention to be advanced. During and after the time when your patent is in-force others can read about the details of your invention as described in your patent, which might spark other non-infringing ideas which will advance the art/science related to your invention. Therefore you benefit from the monopoly provided by the patent and the public benefits by understanding your invention which can advance related engineering and sciences.

Maintenance fees must be paid by the patent owner at certain intervals in order to keep the patent from expiring before the patent term ends.

A U.S. patent does not provide protection outside of the country. However a U.S. patent can be used to prevent the importation of infringing products in to the United States from abroad. Foreign patents are needed to receive protection in chosen foreign countries.

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What Happens After A Federal Trademark Application is Filed?

TrademarkApplicationFiled-001Generally an applicant should not be too concerned with how long it takes to obtain a federal trademark registration at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Once your trademark application is filed, later filed applications by others are less of a concern. Further, in the United States, trademark rights accrue based not only on registration but also on use. Therefore simply by using your trademark in commerce you can begin to generate common law rights which you can assert even before you obtain a registration. This article will explain the process and the general timing of events after an application is filed.

Trademark Office Approval Is No Guarantee of Freedom to Use Mark
Approval of a trademark application by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) does not guarantee that the use of the mark is clear, e.g. that your use will not infringe another’s trademark rights. This is true because, as mentioned above, a trademark user can generate common law rights by use alone, and the USPTO will not search for common law trademark usages that are not registered. Only a comprehensive trademark search can reveal information sufficient to provide advice regarding whether your use of a mark is clear.

If you’re concerned about another filing a trademark application before you begin using your trademark, you can file an intent-to-use trademark application. After the intent to use application is filed, you can begin using your mark without waiting for the trademark registration to issue. In fact there is almost no trademark reason to wait, after an application is filed, for a trademark registration to issue before using your mark. This is true because the USPTO’s granting a registration, as provided above, is not a bulletproof clearance for you to use your Mark. In certain circumstances a court can reverse the trademark office’s decision to grant a trademark registration if a prior trademark user has superior rights. If you need clearance assurance you should have a comprehensive trademark search conducted.

Filing to First Office Action or Allowance
After your trademark application is filed you should expect to hear back from the trademark office whether there is an objection or refusal to your application or whether it will be allowed within three to six months. Current USPTO stats provide the average time to first office action (first response from the USPTO) or allowance after filing is about three months.

Refusal or Objection
If there is a refusal or objection the USPTO will provide that to you in writing in the form of a Office Action. The Office Action will explain the time period in which a response is required. Generally a six-month time frame from the date of the Office Action is allowed for filing a response. A response can be filed earlier.

Refusals or objections provided in an Office Action maybe due to relatively simple formalities, such as the USPTO requiring a change to the description of goods/services provided in the application. In other cases refusals are based on an allegation by the Trademark Examining Attorney that your mark conflicts with another prior registered mark. Refusals based on an alleged conflict with another mark tend to require more involved responses than those regarding application formality issues.

If you receive a refusal or a rejection, the time until you receive a registration, if you’re successful in overcoming the refusal or objection, depends on how long you wait to file a response and how long the Trademark Office takes to consider and reply to your response. Further, in some cases it may be necessary to reply to multiple Office Actions issued by the trademark office or occasionally to pursue an appeal, all of which take more time.

Publication
If the USPTO does not issue a rejection or refusal or if you are successful in overcoming a rejection or refusal, then the USPTO will take an action based on the type of trademark application you have filed (use v. intent-to-use). If you filed a section 1(a) use-based application for registration on the primary register, then the USPTO will provide you with a notice that they will publish the application for opposition. Once the application is published for opposition anyone who believes they would be damaged by you receiving a registration has the opportunity to object to your application by filing an opposition. If no opposition is filed then the US PTO will take one of two courses depending on the type of application that is filed.

Registration or Notice of Allowance
If the application is a used based section 1(a) application then the USPTO will issue a certificate of registration within a few months after the end of the 30 day opposition period, if no opposition is filed. If the application is a section 1(b) intent-to-use application, then the USPTO will issue a notice of allowance within a few months after the end of the 30 day opposition period. The applicant will be given six months after the notice of allowance to file a statement of use proving that they are using the trademark in commerce. Extensions of time can be requested in six-month increments if the applicant cannot file a statement of use showing use of the mark within six months after the notice of allowance.

Conclusion
Currently it takes on average 10 months for a typical use-based trademark application to register and for a intent-to-use application to receive a notice of allowance. Your application could take longer or less time depending on if there is a refusal or objection or if the USPTO processes your application at a quicker or slower rate than average.