307.04    Premature Petition to Cancel

Trademark Act § 14 and Trademark Act § 24, 15 U.S.C. § 1064  and 15 U.S.C. § 1092, provide for the filing of a petition to cancel "a registration of a mark." Until a registration actually issues, there is no registration to cancel.

Thus, a petition to cancel a pending application prior to the issuance of the registration is premature, and cannot be filed through ESTTA. In the rare instance of a petition to cancel filed on paper that reflects a filing date prior to the issuance of registration, the petition will be rejected by the Board, even if the registration has issued by the time of the Board’s action. The petition to cancel filed on paper will not be instituted, and any submitted fee for the petition to cancel will be refunded. In either circumstance, petitioner’s remedy lies in the electronic filing of a new petition to cancel after the registration has issued.