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As we wrote in Part 1 of this series, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and contained several significant amendments to the Lanham Act. This post will cover three of the legislative changes, all pertaining to the elimination of “deadwood” marks that clutter the register and create needless impediments to registration of new marks: (1) ex parte expungement; (2) ex parte reexamination; and (3) non-use cancellation.
These new vehicles for challenging unused marks will not take effect until December 27, 2021, and implementing regulations and procedures, as well as the fees for these procedures, have not yet been established.