The Trademark Modernization Act (the TMA), which went into effect in December 2021， allowed for two new procedures ― "expungement" and "reexamination" 一 for cancelling deadwood trademark registrations. This article provides a yrar-review of the TMA ― the number of expungement/reexamination petitions filed and their results, and the effectiveness of the new procedures. During the first year after the TMA went into effect, there were 207 total third-party petitions filed - 105 expungements and 102 reexaminations. There were 33 Director-instituted proceedings. With the exception of December, petitions filed by third-parties have been relatively consistent month-to-month, ranging from 14 to 27 filings in each month in 2022. Figure 1 shows the month-over-month trend in third-party expungement and reexamination filings brought under the TMA. Director-instituted proceedings, on the other hand, have been anything but consistent, as can be seen in Figure 2. After instituting no proceedings from December 2021 through February 2022, the Director instituted only 14 proceedings over the next nine months before instituting 18 proceedings on a single day on December 14,2022. As we move through 2023, it will be worth following whether third-party filings stay relatively steady, and whether the Director continues the December practice of bulk-instituting.
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