UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

 

 

OFFICE ACTION

 

ISSUE/MAILING DATE: 2/18/2008

 

As explained in the message left for the applicant or applicant’s attorney on February 7, 2008, the statement of use filed on January 3, 2008, appears to have been signed by an unauthorized attorney. 

 

Moreover, the appointment of power of attorney submitted on February 14, 2008, was signed by an improper party and cannot be accepted.  TMEP §602.04 (The revocation must be personally signed by the individual applicant/registrant, or by someone with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant/registrant, e.g., a corporate officer or partner of a partnership.  A new attorney cannot sign a revocation of the previous power of attorney.  See TMEP §602.07 regarding changes of attorney.)

 

The attorney who signed the statement of use is different from the attorney designated in the application record.  If applicant retains a new attorney, the new attorney cannot sign until applicant files a new power of attorney.  37 C.F.R. §10.18(a); TMEP §§602 and 602.07 (the new attorney cannot sign responses to Office actions, authorize examiner’s amendments or priority actions, expressly abandon an application, authorize a change of correspondence address, or otherwise represent the applicant/registrant).  Therefore the statement of use is not accepted and the contents will not be reviewed. 

 

To avoid abandonment of the application, applicant must submit a properly signed power of attorney that is received in the Office within thirty days of the mailing date of this letter.  37 C.F.R. §§2.65(b) and 10.18; TMEP §§712, 712.02 and 718.03(b). 

 

If applicant was previously represented by an attorney, and applicant later retains a different attorney, the newly retained attorney cannot sign until a new power of attorney signed by applicant is filed.  New powers of attorney can be filed online at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html.

 

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 or (2) Canadian agents/attorneys who have received reciprocal recognition by the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §10.14(c).  And Canadian attorneys can only represent Canadian applicants.  Foreign attorneys (other than duly authorized Canadian attorneys) cannot sign responses or otherwise represent applicants before the USPTO.  37 C.F.R. §§10.1(c) and 10.14.  Paralegals and secretaries cannot sign responses for attorneys.

 

Status Check

The Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) database on the USPTO website at http://tarr.uspto.gov provides detailed, up to the minute information about the status and prosecution history of trademark applications and registrations.  Please note that an application serial number or registration number is needed to be able to access this database.  TARR is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If additional information regarding the status of an application or registration is required, callers may telephone the Trademark Assistance Center (TAC) at (571) 272-9250 or (800) 786-9199 and request a status check.  TAC is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday, except on holidays.

 

Copies of Documents 

The applicant may view and download any or all documents contained in the electronic file wrapper of all pending trademark applications, as well as many registrations via the Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR) system available online at: http://portal.gov.uspto.report/external/portal/tow.  Currently, you can access all pending applications and all Madrid Protocol filings, and also many registrations, via TDR.  The USPTO is in the process of converting all remaining registrations into a digital format, to permit future TDR access.  This conversion process is expected to take several years.

 

Questions About This Action

If the applicant has any questions regarding this Office action, please call the examining attorney.

 

/Brian Pino/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 114

571.272.9209

571.273.9114 Law Office Facsimile

 

RESPOND TO THIS ACTION: If there are any questions about the Office action, please contact the assigned examining attorney.  A response to this Office action should be filed using the form available at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/eTEASpageD.htm.  If notification of this Office action was received via e-mail, no response using this form may be filed for 72 hours after receipt of the notification.  Do not attempt to respond by e-mail as the USPTO does not accept e-mailed responses.

 

If responding by paper mail, please include the following information: the application serial number, the mark, the filing date and the name, title/position, telephone number and e-mail address of the person signing the response.  Please use the following address: Commissioner for Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, VA 22313-1451.

 

STATUS CHECK: Check the status of the application at least once every six months from the initial filing date using the USPTO Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) online system at http://tarr.uspto.gov.  When conducting an online status check, print and maintain a copy of the complete TARR screen.  If the status of your application has not changed for more than six months, please contact the assigned examining attorney.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                

IMPORTANT NOTICE

USPTO OFFICE ACTION HAS ISSUED ON 2/18/2008 FOR

APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 76428897

 

Please follow the instructions below to continue the prosecution of your application:

  

VIEW OFFICE ACTION: Click on this link http://tmportal.gov.uspto.report/external/portal/tow?DDA=Y&serial_number=76428897&doc_type=OOA&mail_date=20080218 (or copy and paste this URL into the address field of your browser), or visit http://tmportal.gov.uspto.report/external/portal/tow and enter the application serial number to access the Office action.

 

PLEASE NOTE: The Office action may not be immediately available but will be viewable within 24 hours of this notification.

 

RESPONSE MAY BE REQUIRED: You should carefully review the Office action to determine (1) if a response is required; (2) how to respond; and (3) the applicable response time period. Your response deadline will be calculated from 2/18/2008.

 

Do NOT hit “Reply” to this e-mail notification, or otherwise attempt to e-mail your response, as the USPTO does NOT accept e-mailed responses.  Instead, the USPTO recommends that you respond online using the Trademark Electronic Application System response form at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/eTEASpageD.htm.

 

HELP: For technical assistance in accessing the Office action, please e-mail

TDR@uspto.gov.  Please contact the assigned examining attorney with questions about the Office action. 

 

        WARNING

1. The USPTO will NOT send a separate e-mail with the Office action attached.

 

2. Failure to file any required response by the applicable deadline will result in the ABANDONMENT of your application.