As you know, after the expiration of the five-year, as well as after the nine-year period of registration of trademark applications, it is necessary to submit to the USPTO Declaration of use of the mark for one or more registration goods between the fifth and sixth year of registration of the mark, and between the ninth and tenth year. This is usually sufficient for the Office to satisfy itself that the mark is lawfully used in commerce.

However, since November 2017 The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) started the Post Registration Audit Program. This is done in order to to help preserve the trademark register as a reliable reflection of trademarks in use in commerce, as well as to prevent a diminishing the quality utility of the trademark register to provide notice of trademark rights to businesses and the public.

So, after filing a declaration of use of the mark, the Office can randomly check any registration for the actual use of the mark for any of the claimed goods or services. This is especially true for trademark owners who register a trademark for the sale of goods on various marketplaces, such as Amazon or Etsy. It often happens that Amazon sellers apply for trademarks in respect of products that they plan to sell in the future, to obtain a Brand Registry and to monopolize the brand, however, subsequently sell only one product.

To avoid this, the Office may send a Notice and select several goods or services from the different declared classes and request confirmation for each of these items. If the owner of the mark fails to confirm the use of the mark, the registration is canceled. If he responds but does not provide proof of use of these goods or services, he will need to remove them from registration. In addition, he must pay a removal fee of $250 per class each time the goods or service being inspected is removed. If, in response to the first request, the goods or services to be inspected have been removed, the Office may send a further Notice for confirmation of the remaining goods or services in each class. If there is no confirmation again, then he can delete the goods or services and again pay $ 250 for the class in which the position was deleted. The Notice must be responded to within 6 months from its issuance or before the expiration of the six- or ten-year period for filing a declaration for renewal of registration. Confirmation can be a photo of the product, the web page of the marketplace, with the current sale of the product, the website of the owner of the mark, a photo of the store's wind along with the products, etc.

To avoid the additional costs during the audit, it is recommended to immediately, when submitting a declaration for the extension of the five-year registration period, delete those positions that are not relevant. This will help to avoid the additional costs associated with deleting of goods or services, which are not used, or the risk of canceling the registration completely.