Deadline Rules

How Signa computes trademark maintenance deadlines across jurisdictions

Signa includes a rule-based deadline engine that computes upcoming maintenance deadlines for every registered trademark. The engine has rules defined for 21 jurisdictions, covering every production office and beyond (see office coverage), producing actionable deadline objects with status, urgency, and consequence information.

How Deadlines Are Computed

Given a trademark’s date fields and jurisdiction, the deadline engine returns an array of computed deadlines. Each one carries its type, due date, urgency, grace period (where applicable), and consequence-if-missed information. The same inputs always produce the same output.

Each computed deadline includes:

Field	Description
type	renewal, declaration_of_use, combined_renewal_and_use, declaration_of_incontestability, restoration, international_renewal
name	Human-readable label (e.g., “Section 8 — Declaration of Use”)
due_date	The date the deadline falls
window_opens	Earliest date you can file
grace_expiry	Last day of grace period (if applicable)
status	future, window_open, due_soon, in_grace, missed
urgency	routine, upcoming, critical, in_grace, overdue, missed
days_until_due	Signed integer (negative = overdue)
consequence_if_missed	What happens if you miss it entirely

Trigger Dates

Each jurisdiction defines a trigger field: the date from which deadlines are calculated. This varies by jurisdiction:

Trigger	Jurisdictions
registration_date	US (domestic), CA, PH
filing_date	EU, DE, FR, CH, BX, GB, AU, PL
protection_grant_date	US (Madrid)
intl_registration_date	WIPO

Some jurisdictions changed their trigger field on a specific date. For example, Sweden switched from registration_date to filing_date on 2019-01-01. The engine handles this automatically based on the mark’s filing date.

US Trademark Deadlines

The United States has the most complex deadline structure of any jurisdiction, because it requires proof of continued use in addition to renewal.

US Domestic Marks

Section 8 — Declaration of Use (years 5-6)

• Due: 6 years after registration
• Window opens: 1 year before (year 5)
• Grace period: 6 months (with surcharge)
• Consequence if missed: Cancellation
• Required for all US domestic registrations

Section 15 — Declaration of Incontestability (years 5-6)

• Due: Eligible from year 5, commonly filed with Section 8 by year 6
• Optional: No penalty for missing it
• Benefit: Makes the registration conclusive evidence of validity
• No grace period

Section 8+9 — Renewal + Declaration of Use (every 10 years)

• Due: 10 years after registration, then every 10 years
• Window opens: 1 year before
• Grace period: 6 months (with surcharge)
• Consequence if missed: Cancellation and expiration

US Madrid Marks

Madrid Protocol registrations designating the US use Section 71 (the Madrid equivalent of Section 8) instead of Section 8. The trigger date is protection_grant_date instead of registration_date. Renewal is handled at WIPO, not at the USPTO.

Deadline	Trigger	Due	Grace
Section 71 (first)	protection_grant_date	Year 6	6 months
Section 15	protection_grant_date	Year 6	None (optional)
Section 71 (at renewal)	protection_grant_date	Every 10 years	6 months

cURL

# Get deadlines for a specific trademark
curl -s https://api.signa.so/v1/trademarks/tm_abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sig_YOUR_KEY" | jq '.deadlines'

EU Trademark Deadlines

The European Union has a simpler structure. No proof of use is required at renewal.

Field	Value
Trigger	filing_date
Renewal cycle	Every 10 years
Window opens	6 months before due date
Grace period	6 months after due date
Consequence	Cancellation
Proof of use	Not required at renewal

Jurisdiction Quirks

Germany (DPMA): End-of-Month Rule

For marks filed before 2019-01-14, the expiry date is the last day of the month in which the anniversary falls, not the exact anniversary date. For example, a mark filed on 2015-03-15 expires on 2025-03-31, not 2025-03-15.

Marks filed on or after 2019-01-14 use the exact anniversary (standard behavior).

Canada (CIPO): Pre-2019 15-Year Terms

Canada changed its trademark law on 2019-06-17:

• Before 2019-06-17: Initial term of 15 years, renewal every 15 years
• On or after 2019-06-17: Initial term of 10 years, renewal every 10 years

Signa applies the correct term based on the mark’s registration date.

Nordic Countries: Trigger Field Change

Sweden, Denmark, and Finland changed their trigger field from registration_date to filing_date around 2019. Norway made the same change earlier, on 2010-07-01. Signa resolves the correct trigger based on when the mark was filed.

Mexico: Post-Anniversary Windows

Mexico has a unique Declaration of Use requirement:

• Due: 3 years after grant
• Window opens: The day after the 3rd anniversary (not before)
• Window duration: 3 months

This differs from most jurisdictions where the filing window opens before the due date.

Philippines: Mixed Trigger DAUs

The Philippines requires Declarations of Actual Use at years 3 and 5 after filing, each with different extension rules. The year-3 DAU has a 6-month extension option.

UK and Iceland: Restoration Periods

After the grace period expires, these jurisdictions offer an additional restoration window (6 months for UK, variable for Iceland) during which a lapsed registration can be re-established.

Covered Jurisdictions

Code	Office	Renewal Cycle	Trigger	Proof of Use
US	USPTO (domestic)	10 years	registration_date	Yes (Sections 8, 8+9)
US	USPTO (Madrid)	10 years	protection_grant_date	Yes (Section 71)
EU	EUIPO	10 years	filing_date	No
DE	DPMA	10 years	filing_date	No
GB	UKIPO	10 years	filing_date	No
CH	IGE/IPI	10 years	filing_date	No
FR	INPI	10 years	filing_date	No
BX	BOIP	10 years	filing_date	No
SE	PRV	10 years	filing_date*	No
CA	CIPO	10 years	registration_date	No
AU	IP Australia	10 years	filing_date	No
NO	NIPO	10 years	filing_date*	No
DK	DKPTO	10 years	filing_date*	No
FI	PRH	10 years	filing_date*	No
IS	ISIPO	10 years	filing_date	No
PL	UPRP	10 years	filing_date	No
TH	DIP	10 years	filing_date	No
VN	IP Vietnam	10 years	filing_date	No
PH	IPOPHL	10 years	registration_date	Yes (DAU at years 3, 5)
BR	INPI Brazil	10 years	grant_date	No
MX	IMPI	10 years	grant_date	Yes (DU at year 3)
WIPO	WIPO	10 years	intl_registration_date	No

* Changed from registration_date: SE, DK, FI around 2019; NO on 2010-07-01

Filtering by Deadlines

Use renewal_due_date filters to find marks with an upcoming renewal deadline. renewal_due_before is shorthand for renewal_due_date_lt:

cURL

# All marks with a renewal deadline before a computed cutoff date
# (e.g. 90 days from today: $(date -v+90d +%Y-%m-%d) on macOS,
# $(date -d '+90 days' +%Y-%m-%d) on Linux)
curl -s "https://api.signa.so/v1/trademarks?renewal_due_before=<DATE>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sig_YOUR_KEY"

You can also use the full renewal_due_date range for renewal-specific views:

cURL

curl -s "https://api.signa.so/v1/trademarks?renewal_due_date_gte=2026-01-01&renewal_due_date_lt=2027-01-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sig_YOUR_KEY"