UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
SERIAL NO: 76/602222
APPLICANT: Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
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CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
RETURN ADDRESS: Commissioner for Trademarks P.O. Box 1451 Alexandria, VA 22313-1451
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MARK: MERRILL +3
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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.
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Serial Number 76/602222
The assigned examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and determined the following.
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.
If the applicant is the owner of Registration Nos. 1272653, 1280908 and others, the applicant must submit a claim of ownership. 37 C.F.R. §2.36; TMEP §812.
STANDARD CHARACTER CLAIM OMITTED
Applicant must submit the following standard character claim: “The mark is presented in standard characters without claim to any particular font style, size, or color.” 37 C.F.R. §2.52(a).
The examining attorney strongly suggests that the applicant consult the on-line identification manual on the PTO homepage for a searchable database of acceptable identifications for goods and services. The manual is available at: http://www.gov.uspto.report/web/offices/tac/doc/gsmanual.
PLEASE NOTE: While an application may be amended to clarify or limit the identification, additions to the identification are not permitted. 37 C.F.R. Section 2.71(b); TMEP section 804.09. Therefore, the applicant may not amend to include any goods or services that are not within the scope of the goods and services recited in the present identification.
The identification of services is unacceptable as indefinite because the exact nature of the services is unclear. The applicant must amend the recitation to specify the common commercial name of the services. If there is no common commercial name for the services, the applicant must describe the services and indicate their nature. TMEP §1402.11.
The applicant may adopt the following recitation of services, if accurate:
CLASS 36: Financial services, namely, credit card services whereby participants receive special benefits at different levels of annual spend and accumulate points based on the amount of net purchases made using the credit card which they can redeem for merchandise, travel, preferred services, upgrades and experiential rewards.
The following authorities govern the processing of trademark and service mark applications: The Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1051 et seq., the Trademark Rules of Practice, 37 C.F.R. Part 2, and the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP).
No set form is required for response to this Office action. The applicant must respond to each point raised. The applicant should simply set forth the required changes or statements and request that the Office enter them. The applicant must sign the response. In addition to the identifying information required at the beginning of this letter, the applicant should provide a telephone number to speed up further processing.
In all correspondence to the Patent and Trademark Office, the applicant should list the name and law office of the examining attorney, the serial number of this application, the mailing date of this Office action, and the applicant's telephone number.
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.
/SEH/
S.E. Hickey
Attorney
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Trademark Law Office 112
571-272-9408
HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS OFFICE ACTION:
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/portal/tow.
GENERAL TRADEMARK INFORMATION: For general information about trademarks, please visit the Office’s website at http://www.gov.uspto.report/main/trademarks.htm