To: | GE VINGMED ULTRASOUND AS (trademark@ge.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2281514 - ECHOPAC - N/A |
Sent: | 10/12/19 09:18:39 AM |
Sent As: | prg@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Owner’s Trademark Registration
U.S. Registration No. 2281514
Mark: ECHOPAC
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Correspondence Address: |
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Owner: GE VINGMED ULTRASOUND AS
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Reference/Docket No. N/A
Correspondence Email Address: |
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The USPTO must receive the owner’s response to this letter within the time period specified below. Respond using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). A link to the appropriate TEAS response form appears below.
Issue date: October 12, 2019
The Combined Section 8 Affidavit & Section 9 Renewal Application submitted on September 4, 2019, cannot be accepted for the reasons set forth below.
COMBINED SECTION 8 AFFIDAVIT AND SECTION 9 RENEWAL ISSUES
I. Domicile Requirement
An individual owner’s/holder’s domicile is the place a person resides and intends to be the person’s principal home. See 37 C.F.R. §2.2(o); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. A juristic entity owner’s/holder’s domicile is the principal place of business, i.e., headquarters, where a juristic entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. 37 C.F.R. §2.2(p); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. An owner/holder whose domicile is located outside of the United States or its territories is foreign-domiciled and must be represented at the USPTO by a U.S.-licensed attorney qualified to practice before the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §11.14. 37 C.F.R. §2.11(a).
The post registration filing lists the owner/holder as GE VINGMED ULTRASOUND AS and specifies the owner’s/holder’s domicile as a post office box instead of a street address. In most cases, a post office box is not acceptable as a domicile address because it does not identify the location of the place the owner/holder resides and intends to be the owner’s/holder’s principal home/the owner’s/holder’s headquarters where the entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. See37 C.F.R. §§2.2(o)-(p), 2.189; Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3. Thus, the owner/holder must provide its domicile street address. See 37 C.F.R. §2.189. Alternatively, an owner/holder may demonstrate that the listed address is, in fact, the owner’s/holder’s domicile. Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3.
If the owner/holder amends the post registration filing to list a domicile street address located outside of the United States or its territories, the owner/holder is foreign-domiciled and must appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney qualified to practice before the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §11.14 as its representative before the post registration filing may be accepted and/or acknowledged, or granted. See Hiring a U.S.-licensed trademark attorney for more information. If the owner’s/holder’s domicile street address is located within the United States or its territories, the owner/holder is not required to appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney.
To appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney. To appoint an attorney, the owner/holder should submit a completed Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Revocation, Appointment, and/or Change of Address of Attorney/Domestic Representative form. The newly-appointed attorney must submit a TEAS Response to Post-Registration Office action form indicating that an appointment of attorney has been made and address all other refusals or requirements in this action, if any.
II. Signatures on Responses
The only attorneys who can practice before the USPTO in trademark matters are (1) attorneys in good standing with a bar of the highest court of any U.S. state (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other federal territories and possessions) or (2) Canadian agents/attorneys reciprocally recognized by the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) who are appointed in connection with a U.S.-licensed attorney, and who are representing trademark registrants located in Canada. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(a), 11.1 11.14, 11.14(a), (c), (e). Foreign attorneys (other than recognized Canadian attorneys) cannot sign responses or otherwise represent registrants before the USPTO. See 37 C.F.R. §11.14(c).
If the owner is not represented by an attorney, the response must be signed by the owner or by someone with legal authority to bind the owner (i.e., a corporate officer of a corporate owner, the equivalent of an officer for unincorporated organizations or limited liability company owners, a general partner of a partnership owner, each owner for registrations with multiple individual owners, etc.). 37 C.F.R. §§2.163(b), 2.184(b)(2); see TMEP §§712-712.01(a)(viii).
A non-attorney who is authorized to verify facts on behalf of an owner under 37 C.F.R. §2.33(a)(2) (such as trademark administrators, accountants, business managers, administrative assistants, and personal assistants) cannot sign responses to Office actions unless he or she also has legal authority to bind the owner. See TMEP §§712.03 and 804.04.
III. Response Guidelines
How to respond. Click to file a Response to Post-Registration Office action.
Direct questions about this Office action to the Post Registration staff member below.
/Burns Jr, Glenn R/
Trademark Specialist
Phone: 571-272-0994
Fax: 571-273-0994
Glenn.Burns@USPTO.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE