The Dogecoin Foundation's efforts to trademark the term 'Dogecoin' appear to have come to a complete halt following an announcement from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The government agency apparently marked the application as abandoned after receiving no response from the foundation.
USPTO Says Dogecoin Trademark Application Abandoned
A user of X (formerly Twitter) entered the platform to share the latest development in the trademark application by the Dogecoin Foundation. According to the screenshot of the email shared, the USPTO abandoned the application because it believes it has been abandoned.
The email dated December 13, 2023 explains that the reason for this action was because it had not received any timely response from the foundation to the “Office action.” It appears that the foundation had allowed the required time for this response to pass without contacting the agency.
All hope is not lost, however, as the USPTO explains in the email that the foundation can still proceed with whatever application it chooses. In the event that the foundation has not actually received the Office action in question, or if they did not intentionally delay their response, the email indicates that they can file a petition to reactivate the application.
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The terms of this reactivation that will be included in the petition are the signature of someone with firsthand knowledge of the facts related to the application indicating that the delay was not intentional. In addition, the foundation would have to respond to the Office's action if it received it. In the event that they have not received the action from the Office, they must submit a statement saying that they did not receive it.
As part of the request to reactivate the application, the foundation would also have to pay a petition fee, as well as an extension fee for the time to respond to the Bureau's action. The period within which they can do so will be two months.
In the event that the Dogecoin Foundation did not actually abandon their application and the USPTO made a mistake, the email describes that they can file a “Reinstatement Request.” They would have to include proof of this, “such as a copy of a confirmation email issued by the USPTO that includes the date of receipt and a summary of the online filing,” the email said.
Unlike a refund request, a refund request does not incur any costs. However, the foundation has the same two-month period to submit a refund request.
In August 2023, the USPTO had initially rejected the foundation's Dogecoin trademark application saying it was too “generic for the applicant's services.” This was celebrated by the community that believes that Dogecoin does not belong to anyone.
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