Once you register a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) you must “maintain” your trademark, otherwise you risk losing your protection.

A key to maintaining your trademark is continuing to use your trademark. Five years after you register your trademark, and then every 10 years after you register your trademark, you must file proof with the USPTO that you have continued to use your mark.

Additionally, you may be able to file an Affidavit of Incontestability with the USPTO, which gives you incontestable evidence of your exclusive right to the use of your registered mark, and prevents anyone from alleging that he or she has used the same mark before you did, or prevents alleging that your registration is not valid because your mark is merely descriptive. This avenue is used by trademark holders who have used their marks continuously in commerce, as registered, for five consecutive years at any period of time after the mark was registered. After those five years, the trademark holder has one year to file an Affidavit of Incontestability if his or her exclusive trademark rights were not contested in any legal proceeding during those five years.