Opposition & Cancellation Tracking

You are an IP litigation associate responsible for monitoring 30 active TTAB (Trademark Trial and Appeal Board) proceedings for your firm’s clients. Some of your clients are opponents; others are respondents. You need to track proceeding status changes, flag new oppositions filed against your clients’ marks, and maintain an overview of all active cases. This guide shows how to build an opposition monitoring system using the Signa API.

Prerequisites

A Signa API key with trademarks:read scope
Each client’s name as the office records it, plus its owner ID for portfolio lookups (or a list of marks to monitor)

Find all proceedings involving your clients

Start by querying proceedings where your client appears as a party, either as the opponent (your client filed the opposition) or the respondent (someone opposed your client’s mark). Match the client by name with q: it matches a case-insensitive substring of the party name the office recorded, and with party_role that same party must hold the role. Pick a distinctive part of the name and check parties[] on Get Proceeding before relying on a match, because q matches names only and will not pick up a client’s subsidiaries or former names.

When you hold the client’s owner ID, party_owner_id=<own_…> returns the proceedings where a party is linked to that owner. A link requires the party’s name, company suffix included, to match an owner of the marks in the dispute. Parties without a link (most Canadian and Australian opponents, as they are matched only against the owner of the mark under challenge, and names that match only without a company suffix) are not returned, so keep a q name search for complete coverage.

If you track marks rather than owners, the same split is available per mark: GET /v1/trademarks/{id}/proceedings?trademark_role=contested returns proceedings filed against the mark, and trademark_role=asserted returns the ones its owner filed using that mark as a prior right. Each item carries trademark_role, so a mark on both sides is never ambiguous.

# Find proceedings where your client is the respondent (someone opposed their mark)
curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/proceedings?q=Meridian%20Labs&party_role=respondent&status=pending&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

# Find proceedings where your client is the opponent (they filed the opposition)
curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/proceedings?q=Meridian%20Labs&party_role=opponent&status=pending&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

import Signa from "@signa-so/sdk";

const signa = new Signa({ api_key: process.env.SIGNA_API_KEY });

const clients = [
  { name: "Meridian Labs", ownerId: "own_client01" },
  { name: "Northwind Foods", ownerId: "own_client02" },
  { name: "Harbor & Pine", ownerId: "own_client03" },
];

// Collect all active proceedings for all clients
const allProceedings: Array<Awaited<ReturnType<typeof signa.proceedings.list>>["data"][number] & { clientRole: string; clientName: string }> = [];

for (const client of clients) {
  const asRespondent = await signa.proceedings.list({
    q: client.name,
    party_role: "respondent",
    status: "pending",
    limit: 50,
  });

  const asOpponent = await signa.proceedings.list({
    q: client.name,
    party_role: "opponent",
    status: "pending",
    limit: 50,
  });

  for (const p of asRespondent.data) {
    allProceedings.push({ ...p, clientRole: "respondent", clientName: client.name });
  }
  for (const p of asOpponent.data) {
    allProceedings.push({ ...p, clientRole: "opponent", clientName: client.name });
  }
}

console.log(`Active proceedings across all clients: ${allProceedings.length}`);

Expected output:

{
  "object": "list",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "prc_op001",
      "proceeding_type": "opposition",
      "proceeding_number": "91278456",
      "status": "pending",
      "office_code": "US",
      "filed_date": "2026-01-10",
      "decision_date": null,
      "parties": [
        { "owner_id": null, "name": "Apex Global Corp", "role": "opponent" },
        { "owner_id": null, "name": "Meridian Labs Inc.", "role": "respondent" }
      ],
      "contested_classes": [9, 42],
      "trademark_id": "tm_merid01"
    }
  ]
}

Get details on the contested marks

For each proceeding, fetch the full trademark detail to understand what is at stake.

# Get the contested trademark
curl https://api.signa.so/v1/trademarks/tm_merid01 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

// Collect unique trademark IDs from all proceedings
const trademarkIds = [...new Set(allProceedings.map((p) => p.trademark_id).filter(Boolean))];

// Batch fetch all contested marks
const contestedMarks = await signa.trademarks.batch({ ids: trademarkIds as string[] });

for (const tm of contestedMarks.data) {
  console.log(`\n${tm.mark_text} (${tm.id})`);
  console.log(`  Office: ${tm.office_code}`);
  console.log(`  Status: ${tm.status.stage}`);
  console.log(`  Classes: ${tm.classifications.map((c) => c.nice_class).join(", ")}`);
  console.log(`  Owner: ${tm.owners[0]?.name}`);
  console.log(`  Filing date: ${tm.filing_date}`);
}
if (contestedMarks.not_found.length > 0) {
  console.log("Not found:", contestedMarks.not_found);
}

Surface marks most exposed to opposition

Pull each client’s pending and published marks, the stages most vulnerable to opposition, so you know which applications to watch most closely.

curl -G "https://api.signa.so/v1/owners/own_client01/trademarks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "status_stage=examining,published,opposition_period,pending_opposition" \
  --data-urlencode "limit=100"

for (const { ownerId } of clients) {
  const vulnerableMarks = await signa.owners.trademarks(ownerId, {
    status_stage: ["examining", "published", "opposition_period", "pending_opposition"],
    limit: 100,
  });

  console.log(`${ownerId}: ${vulnerableMarks.data.length} marks to monitor`);
}

Focus on marks in the published, opposition_period, and examining stages, these are the ones most vulnerable to new proceedings. Registered marks can still face cancellation petitions but the risk is lower.

Check prosecution history for contested marks

Review the event timeline of a contested mark to understand how the opposition fits into the prosecution history. Events are always returned newest-first by event_date, there is no sort parameter to set.

curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/trademarks/tm_merid01/events?limit=20" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

const events = await signa.trademarks.events("tm_merid01", { limit: 20 });

console.log("\nProsecution timeline:");
for (const event of events.data) {
  console.log(
    `  ${event.event_date} | ${event.event_type.padEnd(20)} | ${event.description}`,
  );
  if (event.status_after_event) {
    console.log(`  ${"".padEnd(12)} Status -> ${event.status_after_event}`);
  }
}

Expected output:

Prosecution timeline:
  2026-01-10 | opposition_filed     | OPPOSITION FILED
             Status -> pending_opposition
  2025-11-15 | publication          | PUBLISHED FOR OPPOSITION
             Status -> published
  2025-09-20 | examination_start    | APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION
  2025-06-01 | filing               | NEW APPLICATION FILED
             Status -> filed

Track proceeding outcomes and filter by type

Query proceedings by type and status to build different views of your case docket.

# All opposition proceedings (any party, any status)
curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/proceedings?q=Meridian%20Labs&proceeding_type=opposition&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

# Cancellation proceedings only
curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/proceedings?q=Meridian%20Labs&proceeding_type=cancellation&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

# Decided proceedings (to review outcomes)
curl "https://api.signa.so/v1/proceedings?q=Meridian%20Labs&status=decided_granted&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIGNA_API_KEY"

// Build a complete litigation dashboard for one client
const oppositions = await signa.proceedings.list({
  q: "Meridian Labs",
  proceeding_type: "opposition",
  status: "pending",
  limit: 50,
});

const cancellations = await signa.proceedings.list({
  q: "Meridian Labs",
  proceeding_type: "cancellation",
  status: "pending",
  limit: 50,
});

const decidedThisYear = await signa.proceedings.list({
  q: "Meridian Labs",
  decision_date_gte: "2026-01-01",
  limit: 50,
});

const settled = await signa.proceedings.list({
  q: "Meridian Labs",
  status: "settled",
  limit: 50,
});

console.log("\n=== Litigation Dashboard ===");
console.log(`Pending oppositions: ${oppositions.data.length}`);
console.log(`Pending cancellations: ${cancellations.data.length}`);
console.log(`Decided this year: ${decidedThisYear.data.length}`);
console.log(`Settled: ${settled.data.length}`);

Detect proceeding status changes by checking events

Check Trademark Events on each contested mark to catch status transitions. Data updates land daily or weekly depending on the office (see Data Freshness & Coverage), so checking once a day is enough, there is no benefit to polling more often than the underlying data changes. Compare the latest event’s status_after_event against the value you saw on the previous check.

const watchedMarkIds = new Set(allProceedings.map((p) => p.trademark_id).filter(Boolean) as string[]);

// Persist mark_id -> last-seen status between runs
const lastSeenStatus = await loadLastSeenStatus(); // from your own store

for (const markId of watchedMarkIds) {
  const events = await signa.trademarks.events(markId, { limit: 1 });
  const latest = events.data[0];
  if (!latest?.status_after_event) continue;

  const previous = lastSeenStatus.get(markId);
  if (previous && previous !== latest.status_after_event) {
    console.log(`[ALERT] ${markId}: ${previous} -> ${latest.status_after_event} (${latest.event_date})`);
  }
  lastSeenStatus.set(markId, latest.status_after_event);
}
await saveLastSeenStatus(lastSeenStatus);

A status change from pending_opposition to registered means the opposition was resolved in your client’s favor, the mark proceeded to registration. A change to abandoned or refused would indicate the opposite outcome.

Proceeding status reference

Status	Meaning
`pending`	Active, awaiting decision
`decided_granted`	Decided in favor of the petitioner/opponent
`decided_rejected`	Decided in favor of the respondent
`withdrawn`	Petitioner/opponent withdrew the proceeding
`settled`	Parties reached a settlement
`suspended`	Proceeding paused (often pending related litigation)
`partial`	Mixed outcome, some grounds sustained, others denied
`other`	Catch-all for unusual outcomes

Monitoring going forward

Checking history daily works, but a watch with trigger_events: ["trademark.status_changed"] scoped to your clients’ marks pushes an alert the moment the office records a status change, no daily check needed. For marks with a live opposition window, see Opposition windows for the opposition_window_status and must_act_by fields Signa attaches to every alert automatically. Fall back to the daily events check above only if you are not ready to set up watches yet.

What’s next

Trademark Clearance

Run clearance searches to avoid triggering oppositions before you file.

Competitor Intelligence

Track competitor filing patterns to anticipate potential opposition actions.

Renewal Management

Ensure contested marks do not lapse during proceedings by tracking their deadlines.

Getting started

Core concepts

Build with AI

Data

Monitoring

Working with the API

Use cases

Opposition & Cancellation Tracking

Prerequisites

Proceeding status reference

Monitoring going forward

What’s next

Trademark Clearance

Competitor Intelligence

Renewal Management

​Prerequisites

​Proceeding status reference

​Monitoring going forward

​What’s next

Trademark Clearance

Competitor Intelligence

Renewal Management

Prerequisites

Proceeding status reference

Monitoring going forward

What’s next