The affidavit or declaration in accordance with §2.20 provided by section 15 of the Act for acquiring incontestability for a mark registered on the Principal Register or a mark registered under the Trademark Act of 1881 or 1905 and published under section 12(c) of the Act (see §2.153) must:

(a) Be verified;

(b) Identify the certificate of registration by the certificate number and date of registration;

(c) For a trademark, service mark, collective trademark, collective service mark, and certification mark, recite the goods or services stated in the registration on or in connection with which the mark has been in continuous use in commerce for a period of five years after the date of registration or date of publication under section 12(c) of the Act, and is still in use in commerce; for a collective membership mark, describe the nature of the owner's collective membership organization specified in the registration in connection with which the mark has been in continuous use in commerce for a period of five years after the date of registration or date of publication under section 12(c) of the Act, and is still in use in commerce;

(d) Specify that there has been no final decision adverse to the owner's claim of ownership of such mark for such goods, services, or collective membership organization, or to the owner's right to register the same or to keep the same on the register;

(e) Specify that there is no proceeding involving said rights pending in the Office or in a court and not finally disposed of;

(f) Be filed within one year after the expiration of any five-year period of continuous use following registration or publication under section 12(c) of the Act; and

(g) Include the fee required by §2.6 for each class to which the affidavit or declaration pertains in the registration. If no fee, or a fee insufficient to cover at least one class, is filed at an appropriate time, the affidavit or declaration will not be refused if the required fee(s) (see §2.6) is filed in the Office within the time limit set forth in the notification of this defect by the Office. If the submitted fees are insufficient to cover all classes in the registration, the particular class or classes to which the affidavit or declaration pertains should be specified.

(h) If the affidavit or declaration fails to satisfy any of the requirements in paragraphs (a) through (g) of this section, the owner will be notified in an Office action that the affidavit or declaration cannot be acknowledged. If a response is not received within the time period provided or does not satisfy the requirements of the Office action, the affidavit or declaration will be abandoned.

(i) If the affidavit or declaration satisfies paragraphs (a) through (g) of this section, the Office will issue a notice of acknowledgement.

(j) An affidavit or declaration may be abandoned by the owner upon petition to the Director under §2.146 either before or after the notice of acknowledgement has issued.

(k) If an affidavit or declaration is abandoned, the owner may file a new affidavit or declaration with a new filing fee.

(Sec. 15, 60 Stat. 433; 15 U.S.C. 1065; 35 U.S.C. 6; 15 U.S.C. 1113, 1123)

[30 FR 13193, Oct. 16, 1965, as amended at 47 FR 41282, Sept. 17, 1982; 64 FR 48925, Sept. 8, 1999; 73 FR 67773, Nov. 17, 2008; 74 FR 54910, Oct. 26, 2009; 80 FR 33188, June 11, 2015]