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  76/525535

 

The assigned examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and determined the following.

 

Search Results

The examining attorney has searched the Office records and has found no similar registered or pending mark which would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).  TMEP §704.02.

 

Disclaimers

The applicant must insert a disclaimer of the descriptive wording “PRIVATE RESERVE” in the application.  Trademark Act Section 6, 15 U.S.C. §1056; TMEP §§1213 and 1213.08(a)(i).

 

A properly worded disclaimer should read as follows:

 

No claim is made to the exclusive right to use PRIVATE RESERVE apart from the mark as shown.

Trademark Act Section 6(a), 15 U.S.C. §1056(a), permits the Office to require a disclaimer of an unregistrable component of a mark.  Trademark Act Section 2(e), 15 U.S.C. §1052(e), bars the registration of a mark which is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive, or primarily geographically descriptive of the goods. Therefore, the examining attorney may require the disclaimer of a portion of a mark which, when used in connection with the goods or services, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive, or primarily geographically descriptive.  If an applicant does not comply with a disclaimer requirement, the examining attorney may refuse registration of the entire mark.  TMEP §1213.01(b).

 

A disclaimer does not remove the disclaimed matter from the mark.  It is simply a statement that the applicant does not claim exclusive rights in the disclaimed wording or design apart from the mark as shown in the drawing.

 

Claim of Ownership

If the applicant is the owner of Registration No. 1,309,275, the applicant must submit a claim of ownership.  37 C.F.R. §2.36; TMEP §812.

 

Fee Increase

Fee increase effective January 1, 2003

Effective January 1, 2003, the fee for filing an application for trademark registration will be increased to $335.00 per International Class.  The USPTO will not accord a filing date to applications that are filed on or after that date that are not accompanied by a minimum of $335.00. 

 

Additionally, the fee for amending an existing application to add an additional class or classes of goods/services will be $335.00 per class for classes added on or after January 1, 2003.

 

Applicant may respond to this Office action using the Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at <http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html>.  When using TEAS the data the applicant submits is directly uploaded into the Office’s database, which reduces processing time and eliminates the possibility of data entry errors by the Office.  Applicants are strongly encouraged to use TEAS to respond to Office actions.  Applicants using TEAS should not submit a duplicate paper copy of the response.

 

If the applicant has any questions or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please telephone the assigned examining attorney.

 

 

 

/Karen Bracey/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 116

703-306-7914; 703-746-8116 (fax)

ecom116@uspto.gov (formal response only)

 

 

How to respond to this Office Action:

 

To respond formally using the Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), visit http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html and follow the instructions.

 

To respond formally via E-mail, visit http://www.gov.uspto.report/web/trademarks/tmelecresp.htm and follow the instructions.

 

To respond formally via regular mail, your response should be sent to the mailing Return Address listed above and include the serial number, law office and examining attorney’s name on the upper right corner of each page of your response.

 

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

 

For general and other useful information about trademarks, you are encouraged to visit the Office’s web site at http://www.gov.uspto.report/main/trademarks.htm

 

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