Why Was My VMC Application Rejected?

A VMC requires a granted, active registration at a recognized trademark office. Pending applications and common law marks based on use do not qualify for Verified Mark Certificate validation.

Not all national trademark offices are accepted. If the trademark is registered at an office not on the recognized list, it cannot support a VMC regardless of how established the brand is. Registration at a recognized office is required.

The CA looks up the current status of the trademark at the time of application. A registration that has expired or been abandoned since it was granted will result in rejection. The trademark must be renewed before reapplying.

The logo submitted for certification must match the trademark registration. A different color, layout, or element — even a minor variation — can cause rejection if the CA determines the logo does not correspond to the registered mark.

The CA must verify that the organization applying holds (or has authority to act for the holder of) the trademark. If the organization name on the trademark registration does not match the applying entity, or if the CA cannot verify the legal identity of the applicant, the application is held or rejected pending documentation.

If the trademark is registered to a parent company, subsidiary, or previous company name, the applicant must provide documentation establishing the relationship between the trademark holder and the applying entity. This commonly occurs after acquisitions, mergers, or corporate restructuring.

Missing or unclear documentation — expired identity documents, incomplete organization records, or unsigned authorization — causes the CA to pause validation. This is technically a “hold” rather than a hard rejection and is often resolvable by resubmitting the requested documents.

The logo must be in SVG Tiny 1.2 Portable/Secure format with the correct baseProfile="tiny-ps" declaration. Standard SVG 1.1 files, files with scripts or external references, or files missing the required <title> element will fail format validation. See What Is SVG Tiny PS?

BIMI logos must be displayed in a square format and the SVG should have a square viewBox. Non-square logos are not accepted. Some CAs also have minimum complexity requirements to prevent trivially simple images from being certified.