Intent-to-use (ITU) application is one type of trademark application that a trademark applicant can file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register the trademark before using the mark in commerce. To file an ITU, the applicant must show a good faith intention to use the mark in the future by submitting a sworn statement in the application – subject to criminal penalties.
ITU application enables a trademark applicant to reserve the trademark rights against a potential competitor. By getting an earlier application filing date, the ITU applicant could have priority of his mark over someone else’s if a legal conflict develops or could develop — at the USPTO or in the marketplace.
The ITU application process takes approximately one year.
For more information about how to state good faith intent in the application, please see the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) §1101.
The timeline for filing a trademark on an ITU basis can be found here.
[Last updated in July of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]