307.02(c)(3)    Amendment of Petition for Cancellation

If a petitioner files a cancellation against a registration and the five-year period has not yet expired when the cancellation is filed, the five-year time limit specified in Trademark Act § 14, 15 U.S.C. § 1064, does not bar any claims that may be raised by an amended pleading, subject to the provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P 15(a). This is so even if the five-year period has expired by the time an amended petition for cancellation is filed. In such cases, the filing of the cancellation tolls, during the pendency of the proceeding, the running of the five-year period for purposes of determining the grounds on which a cancellation may be based. [ Note 1.] See TBMP § 507 regarding motions to amend the pleadings.

NOTES:

 1.   See Ashland Licensing & Intellectual Property LLC v. Sunpoint International Group USA Corp., 119 USPQ2d 1125, 1128-30 (TTAB 2016) (the commencement of a cancellation proceeding prior to the fifth-year anniversary of the registration tolls Trademark Act Section 14 for the purpose of petitioner adding claims against the registration during the pendency of the Board proceeding).