06-reference/research

hex tree squarely uspto status

2026-08-29·research-brief·source: deep-research·by Ray Data Co (deep-research synthesis)
squarelytrademarkusptohex-treeip-strategy

Hex Tree Has No USPTO 'Squarely' Filing — But Someone Else Filed an IC 009/041 ITU on 2026-06-23

The question

"Does Hex Tree Games have a live or pending USPTO 'Squarely' application in IC 009/028/041, and what is its filing/priority date relative to RDCO's planned filing?" Context: this was the #1 open follow-up from [[2026-06-20-squarely-common-law-priority-vs-hex-tree]] — the decisive variable for RDCO's IC 009/041 priority-date exposure. Two prior automated passes could not read the live register at all.

What we already know (from the vault)

What the web says

Method (so the negative is auditable): driven in a real Chromium browser session via Playwright MCP on 2026-08-29, 01:03–01:06 EDT, against the live USPTO systems — not WebFetch. TSDR self-stamped each record page "generated by TSDR on 2026-08-29 01:03 EDT." The JS-gating that defeated the June passes is not a barrier to a real browser.

Convergences and contradictions

Synthesis for RDCO

This is informational decision-support from an automated register read, not legal advice. An attorney must run the live clearance before RDCO files or spends.

Direct answer: no. Hex Tree Games has no live or pending USPTO "Squarely" application in IC 009, 028, or 041 — or under any mark, in any class, as of 2026-08-29. That half of the question is a clean negative, and it is good news: it means Hex Tree holds nothing but geographically-bounded common-law rights from a Nov 2025 Steam release, with no constructive-use date to swing at RDCO. The prior briefs' worst case — Hex Tree quietly holding an early ITU — did not happen.

But the question was aimed at the wrong party, and the register answered a question nobody asked. Serial 99901250 is a live, pending, standard-character SQUARELY intent-to-use application covering IC 009 and IC 041 — RDCO's two caution classes — with a filing date of 2026-06-23. An RDCO ITU filed today would be 67 days junior to it. That is the decisive number, and it is now a fact rather than a risk. The mechanical consequence is well-defined: under TMEP 1208.02, an examiner reviewing RDCO's later-filed IC 041 application would treat 99901250 as a prior-pending application and, if a 2(d) conflict is found, suspend RDCO's application until 99901250 either registers or dies. RDCO would not get a fast no — it would get a wait of unknown length, which is worse for planning than a refusal.

How bad it actually is turns on the recitations, and they cut two ways. The IC 009 recitation is narrowly drawn to chess competition, matchmaking, and wagering — a real-money skill-chess app, not a puzzle game. Against RDCO's puzzle app, that IC 009 claim is weak overlap and probably survivable. The IC 041 recitation is the problem: "Online computer gaming services," flat and unrestricted, which on its face reads onto any online puzzle game RDCO ships. If any single line blocks RDCO, it is that one. Offsetting that: this is an ITU with no use, filed pro se without counsel, still unexamined. It carries the same Section 2(e)(1) descriptiveness exposure [[2026-06-13-squarely-uspto-trademark-filing-strategy]] flagged for RDCO, plus the ordinary ITU attrition — a Statement of Use is required after allowance, and pro-se ITUs abandon at a high rate. It may well never register. RDCO should not treat it as a wall; it should treat it as a timer it does not control.

Three things change in the plan. (1) IC 016 is now confirmed clear on the live register — zero SQUARELY marks in printed matter, and IC 028 is clear too. The books-first filing has no obstacle and should not be held up by any of this. (2) The IC 009/041 conversation is no longer "should we file an ITU to get ahead of Hex Tree." That window shut on June 23. The real question for counsel is narrower and different: whether RDCO files IC 009/041 anyway to bank a date behind 99901250 and ride out its likely abandonment, files a narrowed puzzle-specific recitation designed to distinguish from chess-wagering, or waits. (3) The register is being claimed in real time. Two independent standard-character SQUARELY ITUs landed ten days apart in mid-2026 (Jun 23, Jul 2) — the word is under active acquisition by strangers. The cost of another 67-day gap between decision and filing is now empirically demonstrated, not hypothetical.

Limits of this read, stated plainly. This was an automated register search by a non-lawyer, not a clearance opinion. TSDR lags very recent filings by a few days, so a Hex Tree application filed in roughly the last week would not yet appear — the negative is solid as of the searched data, not as of this instant. The search covered the US register only; no foreign register or WIPO check was run (a Madrid 66(a) extension into the US would have appeared here). And the USPTO banner disclosed a maintenance window of 12:01–6:00 a.m. on 2026-08-29 with "certain site features may be unavailable" — searches and TSDR pages returned normally throughout, but a confirming re-run outside that window costs nothing and should happen before anyone files.

Why this is in the vault

This closes the top open follow-up from [[2026-06-20-squarely-common-law-priority-vs-hex-tree]] and redirects the Squarely IP plan: it confirms IC 016 filing can proceed unobstructed, and it replaces the assumed Hex Tree threat with a dated, serial-numbered prior-pending ITU (99901250, 2026-06-23) that any attorney engagement on IC 009/041 must now be briefed on by name.

Open follow-ups

Related

Sources