UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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SERIAL NO: 76/601810
APPLICANT: Jones, Eric
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CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
RETURN ADDRESS: Commissioner for Trademarks P.O. Box 1451 Alexandria, VA 22313-1451
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MARK: RIC JILLA
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CORRESPONDENT’S REFERENCE/DOCKET NO: N/A
CORRESPONDENT EMAIL ADDRESS: |
Please provide in all correspondence:
1. Filing date, serial number, mark and applicant's name. 2. Date of this Office Action. 3. Examining Attorney's name and Law Office number. 4. Your telephone number and e-mail address. |
Serial Number 76/601810
The assigned examining attorney has reviewed the application and determined the following.
• Search of Office records.
The examining attorney has searched the Office records and has found no similar registered or pending mark which bars registration under Trademark Act §2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d). TMEP §704.02.
However, the applicant must respond to the following.
1. Consent of individual named in mark.
If the wording RIC JILLA in the mark identifies a particular living individual, the applicant must submit a written consent from that individual authorizing the applicant to register the name (and a statement that the mark identifies a particular living individual whose consent is of record). If the name does not identify a living individual, the applicant should state so for the record. Trademark Act §2(c), 15 U.S.C. §1052(c); TMEP §§813 and 1206 et seq.
2. Identification of goods/services.
To be a service, an activity must be for the benefit of someone other than the applicant. For example, while an advertising agency provides a service when it promotes the goods or services of its clients, a company which promotes the sale of its own goods or services is doing so for its own benefit and is not rendering a service for others. In re Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., 167 USPQ 376 (TTAB 1970). Accordingly, the activity of recording and producing one’s own music is not a service.
The identification of goods/services is unacceptable as indefinite. TMEP §1402.01. The applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate:
Class 9––commercial audio recordings featuring [specify, e.g., music*], musical sound recordings, pre-recorded compact discs, records and audio tape cassettes featuring music, video recordings featuring [indicate specific subject matter, e.g., music, self-improvement, mathematics instruction], pre-recorded videotape cassettes and digital video discs featuring musical performances and [specify, e.g., musical] entertainment
Class 25––clothing, namely [identify articles individually by common commercial name]
Class 41––entertainment services, namely presentation of live show performances, live music by a [specify,
e.g., solo performer or rock group], live musical concert performances in the context of tours and touring, music production,
videotape production and production of video discs for others, entertainment in the nature of visual and audio performance services, entertainment and recording services in the nature of
a musician and music producer, and the creation, production, recording, distribution,† and
exploitation of commercial audio and video recordings
This Office’s Acceptable Identification of Goods & Services Manual is accessible at http://www.gov.uspto.report/web/offices/tac/doc/gsmanual/manual.html (searchable using Ctrl+F). The applicant should also note that, while an application may be amended to clarify or limit the identification, additions to the identification are not permitted. 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06. Therefore, the applicant may not amend to include any goods/services that are not within the scope of the goods/services set forth in the present identification.
3. Standard-character claim.
The applicant must submit the following standard-character claim: “The mark is presented in standard character format without claim to any particular font style, size, or color.” 37 C.F.R. §2.52(a).
• Responding to this Office Action.
To respond formally to this Office Action, the applicant’s attorney is strongly urged to utilize this Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at http://eteas.gov.uspto.report/V2.0/oa242/.
(If the applicant’s attorney insists on delaying action on its formal response by using regular mail, he/she is advised that such correspondence must bear the serial number, law office (113), and examining attorney’s name on the upper right corner of each page. He/she is further advised that the Trademark Operation has relocated such that 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, and the undersigned’s phone & fax number, respectively, are 571/272-9212 & 571/273-9212. However, the applicant’s attorney would be best served by corresponding online.)
To check the status of an application at any time, the applicant’s attorney is strongly encouraged to visit the Office’s online Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval system at http://tarr.uspto.gov. For general and other useful information about trademarks, the applicant’s attorney may visit the Office’s official Web site at http://www.gov.uspto.report/main/trademarks.htm.
To respond informally to this Office Action, or for inquiries or questions about this Office Action, the applicant’s attorney should contact the assigned Examining Attorney via this e-mail address:
/J. Brendan Regan/
Examining Attorney
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:
· $325 per international class if filed electronically using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS); or
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––whereas if such payments are submitted 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.
* The applicant must recite goods in trade; self-promotional material may not qualify as such.
† The applicant should also note the following guidance from this Office’s ID Manual: “Production and distribution of motion pictures … involves the actual creation of the motion picture or television program and the accompanying activity of distributing it to movie theatres and television stations for display to the public. This is not the case when distribution relates to videotapes, audio tapes or other hard goods that result from the production of visual or audio entertainment. When these goods are distributed, it is the same as the distribution of any other kind of hard goods by any other manufacturer. For this reason, distribution of videotapes, audio tapes, video disks, etc. should not be accepted as a service even when the distribution is linked to the production of these goods.”