On April 29, 2026, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a precedential decision in In re Everwise Credit Union, cancelling Registration No. 7068783 for the mark EVERWISE CREDIT UNION. The decision arose from a reexamination of the registration and provides a clear articulation of how the Board distinguishes bona fide use in commerce from token use made to preserve priority.
Background
Teachers Credit Union filed an intent-to-use application for EVERWISE CREDIT UNION in June 2019. The application covered a broad range of financial services in International Class 36, including banking, credit union services, mortgage lending, investment brokerage, and related services. After the mark was approved and a notice of allowance issued, the applicant filed five requests for an extension of time to file its statement of use. The Office granted all five. The final, non-extendable deadline fell on April 14, 2023.
On that deadline, the applicant filed its statement of use, accompanied by a single specimen: a screenshot of its website at www.tcunet.com. The application matured into a registration on May 30, 2023.
In July 2023, a third party filed a petition for reexamination, arguing that the mark was not in use in commerce as of the statement of use deadline. The petitioner pointed to Wayback Machine searches showing the Teachers Credit Union website still operating under TCU branding as of June 16, 2023, and app store listings showing the mobile banking app was still named TCU Mobile Banking, not Everwise. It also noted that no evidence of the Everwise name appeared across the registrant's branding materials as of the filing date.
The USPTO instituted the reexamination proceeding. After the registrant responded with additional evidence and a sworn declaration from its Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, the Examiner issued a final office action finding the mark had not been in bona fide use as of the deadline. The registrant appealed. The Board affirmed.
Everwise's Specimen
The specimen was a single webpage. EVERWISE CREDIT UNION appeared three times across the page. Two of those appearances were in the body of the text, in the same font, size, and style as the surrounding paragraph text. Readers would have to search through multiple paragraphs to find the name. The Board found those two instances would not be perceived by consumers as a source identifier.
The third appearance was in a tagline near the top of the page: "Why TCU? Because we are an Everwise Credit Union." The mark was in italics, slightly smaller than the heading, and accompanied by a trademark symbol. The Board acknowledged this was the most defensible appearance, but still found it insufficient to demonstrate bona fide use.
Throughout the rest of the specimen, and across the fourteen exhibits attached to the declaration, the marks TCU and TEACHERS CREDIT UNION appeared as the source identifiers for the listed services. EVERWISE CREDIT UNION did not appear in any of those exhibits.
The Bona Fide Use Standard
Section 45 of the Trademark Act defines use in commerce as the bona fide use of a mark in the ordinary course of trade, not use made merely to reserve a right in a mark. For services, the mark must be used or displayed in the sale or advertising of services, and the services must be rendered in commerce.
The bona fide use standard was enacted to eliminate token or preparatory uses, which historically occurred when applicants used marks in connection with services for the sole purpose of obtaining registration, with no real intention of commercially adopting the mark until later. The Board noted that use in commerce contemplates commercial use of the type common to the particular industry in question.
Applying that standard, the Board identified three problems with the registrant's showing.
First, the specimen alone was insufficient. The registrant could not produce a single additional document showing EVERWISE CREDIT UNION functioning as a source identifier as of the deadline. For a credit union with over 300,000 members, the Board observed, bona fide use would be expected to show up in branch signage, checks, member communications, business cards, brochures, debit and credit cards, and other materials common to the credit union industry. None of that was submitted.
Second, the post-deadline record told a different story. The registrant officially changed its name from Teachers Credit Union to Everwise Credit Union on June 26, 2023, two months after the statement of use deadline. Screenshots from June and July 2023 showed the registrant announcing to its members that TCU was becoming Everwise, that all branding would be updated starting June 26, and that signage and branches would be refreshed throughout the summer. A blog post dated June 26, 2023, was titled "Teachers Credit Union is Now Everwise Credit Union" and described the official transition as occurring that day.
The Board found this post-deadline evidence highly probative. It showed that Registrant did not adopt EVERWISE CREDIT UNION as its mark for financial services until after the statement of use deadline, and that the tagline on the single webpage specimen was placed there to preserve priority, not to reflect an ongoing commercial use.
Third, the sworn declaration's conclusion that bona fide use had been made was treated as a legal conclusion rather than a factual statement, and the Board gave it no weight. The exhibits attached to the declaration showed use of TCU and TEACHERS CREDIT UNION throughout, with no appearance of EVERWISE CREDIT UNION.
The Prior Acceptance Argument
The registrant argued that because the examining attorney had accepted the specimen during prosecution, the Board should give that acceptance deference. The Board rejected this argument. Neither the Director nor the Board is bound by an examining attorney's prior acceptance of a specimen, and acceptance during prosecution does not control the ultimate question of use in a reexamination proceeding.
If you have questions about your intent-to-use application, a statement of use deadline, or whether your current use is sufficient to support registration, schedule a free consultation.
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