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By J.D. Houvener
Patent Attorney and Founder

Well, perfect. Okay, so first question right out of the gate, this one should be pretty straightforward, classic. The main subject is how long does it take to get a pending status? Okay, so let’s get into that. I’ll put the full question here up in the comments. I’ve got a product I like to sell it on Amazon. However, I need a trademark application pending in order to be listed. I’m ready to start my filing. How long does it take to get a pending status?

Yeah, that’s a really easy question, five days. I’m gonna go ahead and say five business days. So that’s… I didn’t know that answer, okay, that’s cool. Yeah, so when you file a trademark with the USPTO, they’re going to send you a receipt of confirmation that you submitted the trademark application. At that point, they’re going to assign you a Serial application number for the US, but you’re not going to be able to see that trademark application on the US PTO test website trademark Electronics search system website for approximately one week.

So if you’re trying to sell a product on Amazon and Amazon says, “Hey, like we’d like you to be brand registered, we need a trademark application number,” if you go file the trademark and then submit that number, typically, if it’s within the week, they’re not going to see it. So when the paralegal at Amazon goes and looks up your trademark, he or she will not see that application unless it’s been about a week. So that’s pretty common, I see clients do that pretty frequently. And so if we were to send them, you know, the second you file it, odds are, it may get rejected.

Hey, yeah, correct, right? Because typically, you know, Amazon’s looking at this stuff within a day or two. So I just encourage clients if you’re trying to do the Amazon brand registry thing, definitely do it, it’s great, there’s a ton of benefits to A+ pages. But look it up on the US PTO test database first, make sure that it’s visible, and then submit the the Amazon form.

And the way this question is worded, it’s almost like they’re saying they have to have it patent or trademark pending. You don’t think Amazon’s cracking down like that? No, so it used to be Amazon would only allow you to be brand-registered if the application was actually registered, right? So you had a registration number, not a serial number, but a registration number.

A couple of years ago, they changed that up and now you can have a pending trademark application status, have access to Brand Registries benefits but not have the registration number yet.

Got it, got it. And to that person for asking questions and and you know, hey, don’t, don’t do it on your own if you don’t need to get some counsel. You get a hold of us and we’ll be happy to help you. Here’s our link to schedule some time for a Discovery call to see to learn more about our firm and about, you know what JD, we should speaking of Amazon we should reach out to Jeff Bezos and see if we could become the attorney of record for all Amazon brand registry filers, you know, that’s not a bad idea, that might pick up a little bit of business for us.

About the Author
J.D. Houvener is a Registered USPTO Patent Attorney who has a strong interest in helping entrepreneurs and businesses thrive. J.D. leverages his technical background in engineering and experience in the aerospace industry to provide businesses with a unique perspective on their patent needs. He works with clients who are serious about investing in their intellectual assets and provides counsel on how to capitalize their patents in the market. If you have any questions regarding this article or patents in general, consider contacting J.D. Houvener at https://boldip.com/contact/