1608    Surrender of Registration for Cancellation

The owner of a registration may voluntarily surrender his or her registration for cancellation, under §7(e) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1057(e). The owner of the registration must submit a TEAS Surrender of Registration for Cancellation form properly signed in accordance with the guidelines in TMEP §611.03(f). There is no fee. The request must be submitted through TEAS unless the owner is a national of a country exempted from the requirement to file through TEAS. See 37 C.F.R §2.23(a)-(c).

Filing a §8 affidavit or declaration, §71 affidavit or declaration, or §9 renewal application for fewer than the total number of classes in the registration is regarded as a surrender of the registration as to the class(es) that are omitted.

Unless the registration is the subject of a cancellation proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, a request for surrender is handled by the Post Registration Section.  See TBMP §602.02(a) (regarding the voluntary surrender of a registration that is the subject of a cancellation proceeding before the Board); see also Christiane E, LLC v. Int’l Expeditions, Inc., 106 USPQ2d 2042 (TTAB 2013) (finding that registrant’s situation was not so extraordinary as to warrant a withdrawal of registrant's voluntary surrender of its registration).

If the registration is surrendered in its entirety, the USPTO updates its records accordingly, and sends the owner of record a notice that the registration is cancelled.

If fewer than all classes are surrendered, the USPTO updates the Trademark database to indicate that specified classes have been cancelled under §7(e) of the Act. A certified copy of the updated registration certificate may be obtained from the Patent and Trademark Copy Fulfillment Branch of the USPTO for a fee. See TMEP §111.

A request to surrender a registered extension of protection of an international registration to the United States may be filed either directly with the IB or with the USPTO.  If it is filed with the USPTO, the USPTO will notify the IB of the cancellation of the request for extension of protection to the United States.  See TMEP §1906.01(e) regarding renunciation, limitation, or cancellation of an international registration.

Under 37 C.F.R. §2.172, a surrender for cancellation may not subsequently be withdrawn.