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A trademark portfolio audit reviews your registrations for upcoming renewals, use requirements, coverage gaps, and potential infringement. Do it before year-end so nothing lapses or gets missed heading into January.
If you own one trademark, a year-end check takes an hour. If you own ten or more, skipping it can cost you registrations, open the door to infringers, and leave your brand exposed heading into the new year.
Gearhart Law helps businesses protect and manage their trademark assets across New Jersey and beyond. This guide walks you through what a trademark portfolio audit covers and what to prioritize before December 31.
What Is a Trademark Portfolio Audit
A trademark portfolio audit is a structured review of every trademark your business owns, has applied for, or licenses. The goal is to make sure your registrations are current, your marks are actually in use, and your coverage still fits how your business operates.
For many businesses, the trademark portfolio grows over time without much coordination. You file a mark when you launch a product. You add a logo registration a year later. A licensee starts using a variation. Before long, you have a collection of filings with different owners, different renewal dates, and different scopes of coverage… and no clear picture of whether your brand is fully protected or quietly exposed.
A year-end audit gives you that picture.
Why December Is the Right Time for Trademark Portfolio Audits
The end of the year is a natural forcing function. Renewal deadlines, use requirements, and maintenance filings cluster on calendar-year cycles, and catching them in Q4 gives you time to act before January fees or filing windows close.
It also lines up with how most businesses plan. If your trademark coverage has gaps, you want to know before you set your marketing and product budget for next year, not after you have already committed to a rebrand or a new product line that turns out to be unprotected.
What to Check in a Trademark Portfolio Audit
Renewal deadlines
U.S. trademark registrations require maintenance filings at regular intervals, so pull every registration in your portfolio and map out when each one is due. If any filing falls due in the next twelve months, flag it now.
Key deadlines to track:
- Between years 5 and 6: File a Declaration of Use under Section 8 of the Lanham Act
- Between years 9 and 10: File a combined Section 8 and Section 9 renewal
- Every 10 years after that: File another combined Section 8 and Section 9 renewal
Miss any of these windows and the USPTO will cancel your registration. The USPTO sends courtesy email reminders for upcoming deadlines, but we wouldn’t recommend relying on them. Each deadline also carries a six-month grace period, but filing during that window means paying a surcharge you could otherwise avoid if you file early.
Actual use in commerce
Your trademark registration only covers the goods and services listed in your filing, and only if you are actually using the mark in commerce on those goods and services. If your business has shifted (you stopped selling a product, rebranded a service line, or changed how you deliver something), your registration may no longer reflect reality.
This matters because a registration you are not using is vulnerable. A third party can file a cancellation proceeding against it. And if you try to enforce that registration in court, the gap between your filing and your actual use will come up.
Check each registration against your current operations. If a class of goods or services no longer matches what you sell, note it. You may need to file an updated specimen, amend your registration, or in some cases let a registration lapse strategically.
Coverage gaps
Look at what your registrations actually cover versus what your business actually does. Common gaps include:
- A word mark registered but no design mark for the logo
- A mark registered in the U.S. but no protection in markets where you sell internationally
- A new product line or brand extension with no trademark filing yet
- A tagline or slogan in active use that was never registered
- A domain name or social media handle that has become a de facto brand asset without a corresponding registration
Any gap that matches something your business is actively using or building toward should go on a filing priority list for next year. Before you file, you need to know whether the mark is available. See why you need a trademark search before marketing your brand.
Ownership and assignment records
If your business has gone through a rebrand, a merger, an acquisition, or a restructuring, your trademark registrations may still be in the name of an old entity or a prior owner. At the USPTO, ownership records are only updated when an assignment is formally recorded. A registration in the wrong name is still enforceable in some contexts, but it creates complications, especially if you ever need to license, sell, or litigate.
Check that each registration in your portfolio is owned by the correct legal entity and that any assignments have been recorded with the USPTO.
Pending applications
If you have trademark applications currently in process, check their status. Applications can go abandoned if you miss a response deadline to an Office Action. If an application has been pending for more than twelve months without movement, it is worth a close look.
Licensing arrangements
If you license your trademarks to others, your audit should confirm that each licensee is using the mark correctly and that your license agreements include quality control provisions. A trademark owner who fails to control how a licensee uses the mark risks what is called a naked license — a situation where a court could find the mark unenforceable because the owner did not maintain control over the quality of the goods or services it represents.
Monitoring for infringement
A year-end audit is also a good time to assess whether your monitoring is keeping up. Are you watching for new trademark applications at the USPTO that could conflict with your mark? Are you checking for unauthorized use online, in your market, and in adjacent categories?
If you do not have a formal watch service in place, that is worth discussing with a trademark attorney. Failing to police your mark over time can weaken your ability to enforce it later.
What to Do With What You Find
An audit is only useful if it leads to action. After you complete your review, sort your findings into three buckets:
- Urgent: Renewal or maintenance filings due within the next six months, pending applications at risk of abandonment, active infringement you have not yet addressed.
- Near-term: Coverage gaps tied to current products or markets, ownership records that need updating, licensing arrangements without proper quality control provisions.
- Strategic: New filings to consider for next year, international coverage to evaluate, brand extensions that will need protection when they launch.
Bring that list to a trademark attorney before year-end so the urgent items can be handled while there is still time.
How Gearhart Law Can Help
Gearhart Law works with businesses across New Jersey and beyond to review trademark portfolios, handle renewal and maintenance filings, and identify gaps before they become problems. If you have not done a trademark portfolio audit recently, or if your portfolio has grown without a clear strategy behind it, reach out before December 31.
Leave your details, and we will be in touch to schedule a free half-hour consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Trademark Portfolio Audits
What is a trademark portfolio audit?
A trademark portfolio audit is a review of all the trademarks your business owns, has applied for, or licenses. It checks for upcoming renewal deadlines, gaps in coverage, ownership issues, and whether your registrations still match how your business actually operates.
How often should I do a trademark portfolio audit?
At minimum, once a year. If your business is growing quickly, launching new products, or entering new markets, more frequent reviews make sense. Year-end is a practical time because it aligns with budget planning and gives you time to act before January.
What happens if I miss a trademark renewal deadline?
The USPTO will cancel your registration. For Section 8 maintenance filings, there is a six-month grace period after the deadline, but it comes with a surcharge. After that window, the registration is cancelled and cannot be reinstated. You would need to file a new application.
Can I do a trademark audit myself?
You can review your own portfolio, check registration statuses on the USPTO’s TSDR database, and flag upcoming deadlines. But identifying coverage gaps, evaluating use requirements, reviewing license agreements, and assessing infringement risk all benefit from a trademark attorney’s analysis. A self-review is a starting point, not a substitute.
What is a naked license and why does it matter in a trademark audit?
A naked license occurs when a trademark owner allows someone else to use their mark without maintaining control over the quality of the goods or services associated with it. Courts have found marks unenforceable in naked license situations. An audit should confirm that every licensing arrangement includes quality control provisions and that you are actively exercising that control.
What is a trademark watch service?
A trademark watch service monitors new trademark applications filed at the USPTO, and in some cases internationally, for marks that could conflict with yours. It gives you early notice so you can oppose conflicting applications before they register. An audit is a good time to evaluate whether your current monitoring is adequate.
Should I renew trademarks I am not actively using?
It depends. If you plan to use the mark again in the foreseeable future, renewing may make sense. If you have genuinely stopped using it and have no plans to revive it, maintaining the registration ties up resources without providing protection. A trademark attorney can help you weigh the decision, particularly if abandoning the mark could open the door to a competitor.
What does a trademark attorney look for in a portfolio audit?
A trademark attorney will review renewal and maintenance deadlines, confirm that your marks are in actual use on the registered goods and services, check that ownership records are accurate, identify coverage gaps relative to your current business, assess licensing arrangements for quality control compliance, and flag any potential infringement issues. The goal is to give you a clear picture of what you have, what is at risk, and what to do next.