Offc Action Outgoing

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

 

 

OFFICE ACTION

 

TO AVOID ABANDONMENT, WE MUST RECEIVE A PROPER RESPONSE TO THIS OFFICE ACTION WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF OUR MAILING OR E-MAILING DATE. 

 

 

Serial Number  76/523649

 

This application has been reinstated and applicant’s response has been carefully considered.

 

Registration was refused under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d), because the mark for which registration is sought so resembles the mark shown in U.S. Registration No. 2544942 as to be likely, when used on the identified goods/services, to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive.

 

The examining attorney has considered the applicant’s arguments carefully but has found them unpersuasive.  For the reasons below, the refusal under Section 2(d) is maintained and made FINAL.

 

Registration No. 2544942 is for the mark SCRUB CLUB for use on car washing services.  Applicant’s proposed mark is SCRUBS for use on automobile cleaning washing and polishing.  The marks are similar and the services are also similar.  Consumers may be confused.  Applicant argues that because the term SCRUB or a derivative of that term appears in three other registrations that SCRUBS is a weak mark and should be entitle to registration.  This examining attorney respectfully disagrees.

 

Third-party registrations, by themselves, are entitled to little weight on the question of likelihood of confusion.  In re Melville Corp., 18 USPQ2d 1386, 1388 (TTAB 1991); In re Hub Distributing, Inc., 218 USPQ 284 (TTAB 1983).  Third-party registrations are not evidence of what happens in the marketplace or that the public is familiar with the use of those marks.  In re Comexa Ltda, 60 USPQ2d 1118 (TTAB 2001); National Aeronautics and Space Admin. v. Record Chem. Co., 185 USPQ 563 (TTAB 1975); TMEP §1207.01(d)(iii).  Further, existence on the register of other confusingly similar marks would not assist applicant in registering yet another mark which so resembles the cited registered mark that confusion is likely.  In re Total Quality Group Inc., 51 USPQ2d 1474 (TTAB 1999).  In addition the other registrations have a different commercial impression, SCRUBADUB, THE AUTO SCRUBBER and QUALITY SCRUB CAR WASH have quite a different impression than SCRUBS and SCRUBS CLUB.

 

Even if applicant has shown that the cited mark is “weak,” such marks are still entitled to protection against registration by a subsequent user of the same or similar mark for the same or closely related goods or services.  See Hollister Incorporated v. Ident A Pet, Inc., 193 USPQ 439 (TTAB 1976) and cases cited therein.

 

Any doubt regarding a likelihood of confusion is resolved in favor of the prior registrant.  In re Hyper Shoppes (Ohio), Inc., 837 F.2d 463, 6 USPQ2d 1025 (Fed. Cir. 1988); TMEP §§1207.01(d)(i).

 

Applicant may respond to this final action by: 

 

(1)   submitting a response that fully satisfies all outstanding requirements, if feasible (37 C.F.R. §2.64(a)); and/or

(2)   filing an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, with an appeal fee of $100 per class (37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(18) and 2.64(a); TMEP §§715.01 and 1501 et seq.; TBMP Chapter 1200).

 

In certain circumstances, a petition to the Director may be filed to review a final action that is limited to procedural issues, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(2).  37 C.F.R. §2.64(a).  See 37 C.F.R. §2.146(b), TMEP §1704, and TBMP Chapter 1201.05 for an explanation of petitionable matter.  The petition fee is $100.  37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(15).

 

NOTICE:  FEE CHANGE   

 

Effective January 31, 2005 and pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub. L. 108-447, the following are the fees that will be charged for filing a trademark application:

 

(1) $325 per international class if filed electronically using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS); or 

 

(2)   $375 per international class if filed on paper

 

These fees will be charged not only when a new application is filed, but also when payments are made to add classes to an existing application. If such payments are submitted with a TEAS response, the fee will be  $325 per class, and if such payments are made with a paper response, the fee will be $375 per class.

 

The new fee requirements will apply to any fees filed on or after January 31, 2005.

 

NOTICE:  TRADEMARK OPERATION RELOCATION

 

The Trademark Operation has relocated to Alexandria, Virginia.  Effective October 4, 2004, all Trademark-related paper mail (except documents sent to the Assignment Services Division for recordation, certain documents filed under the Madrid Protocol, and requests for copies of trademark documents) must be sent to:

 

Commissioner for Trademarks

P.O. Box 1451

Alexandria, VA  22313-1451

 

Applicants, attorneys and other Trademark customers are strongly encouraged to correspond with the USPTO online via the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html.

 

 

/Jacqueline A. Lavine/

Trademark Examining Attorney

Law Office 116

(571) 272-9185

(571) 273-9116 FAX

Jacky.Lavine@uspto.gov

 

 

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS OFFICE ACTION:

• ONLINE RESPONSE:  You may respond formally using the Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Response to Office Action form (visit http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.htm and follow the instructions, but if the Office Action issued via email you must wait 72 hours after receipt of the Office Action to respond via TEAS).
• REGULAR MAIL RESPONSE:  To respond by regular mail, your response should be sent to the mailing return address above and include the serial number, law office number and examining attorney’s name in your response.

 

STATUS OF APPLICATION: To check the status of your application, visit the Office’s Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) system at http://tarr.uspto.gov.

 

VIEW APPLICATION DOCUMENTS ONLINE: Documents in the electronic file for pending applications can be viewed and downloaded online at http://portal.gov.uspto.report/external/tow.

 

GENERAL TRADEMARK INFORMATION: For general information about trademarks, please visit the Office’s website at http://www.gov.uspto.report/main/trademarks.htm

 

FOR INQUIRIES OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS OFFICE ACTION, PLEASE CONTACT THE ASSIGNED EXAMINING ATTORNEY SPECIFIED ABOVE.