Opposing a trademark application

[teltech-HG]

The company I work for, in New York state, has sold a product for over 10 years, but the product name was never trademarked. I just did a search on uspto.gov and saw that the product name is listed for another company (in Minnesota), but the trademark registration has not been completed. In the listing, the record says that the name was "Published for Opposition" on August 18, 2009 (the filing date was in October, 2008). Can my company oppose the trademark application? If so, how do we do that? And if the opposition is approved, can we then apply for the trademark ourselves?

[justalayman]

The USPTO will send a NOTICE OF PUBLICATION to the applicant stating the date of publication. Any party who believes it may be damaged by registration of the mark has thirty (30) days from the publication date to file either an opposition to registration or a request to extend the time to oppose. An opposition is similar to a proceeding in a federal court, but is held before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, a USPTO administrative tribunal. If no opposition is filed or if the opposition is unsuccessful, the application enters the next stage of the registration process. A Certificate of Registration will issue for applications based on use, or a Notice of Allowance will issue for intent-to-use applications.

CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION OR NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE

If the mark is published based upon the actual use of the mark in commerce, or on a foreign registration, and no party files an opposition or request to extend the time to oppose, the USPTO will normally register the mark and issue a registration certificate about twelve (12) weeks after the date the mark was published.

If the mark is published based upon the applicant's bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce, the USPTO will issue a NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE about twelve (12) weeks after the date the mark was published, if no party files either an opposition or request to extend the time to oppose. The applicant then has six (6) months from the date of the NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE to either:

use the mark in commerce and submit a STATEMENT OF USE; or
request a six-month EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE A STATEMENT OF USE.
Both forms are available at [url=http://www.uspto.gov/teas/index.html]Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Home Page[/url] . See Additional Requirements for 'Intent to Use' Applications . If the STATEMENT OF USE is filed and approved, the USPTO will issue the registration certificate.

from [url=http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/process/afterapp.jsp#pub]What happens after I file my application?[/url]