To: | Middleton, Thomas (tmiddleton@direcway.com) |
Subject: | TRADEMARK APPLICATION NO. 76609530 - "CATFISH ZONE" - N/A |
Sent: | 3/26/05 3:10:03 PM |
Sent As: | ECOM112@USPTO.GOV |
Attachments: |
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
SERIAL NO: 76/609530
APPLICANT: Middleton, Thomas
|
|
CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
RETURN ADDRESS: Commissioner for Trademarks P.O. Box 1451 Alexandria, VA 22313-1451
|
MARK: "CATFISH ZONE"
|
|
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 76/609530
The Office records have been searched and no similar registered or pending mark has been found that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d). TMEP §704.02.
However, before the mark can be published for opposition, the applicant must address the following informalities:
The wording “sporting and recreational products” in the identification of goods is unacceptable as indefinite. The applicant must amend the identification to specify the commercial name of the goods. If there is no common commercial name for the product, the applicant must describe the product and its intended uses. TMEP §1402.01.
The applicant may amend to adopt the following, if accurate:
Sporting and recreational products, namely, [list each item by its common commercial name].
If the applicant has any identification questions/concerns, the applicant may wish to 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 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 services that are not within the scope of the services recited in the present identification.
Trademark Act Section 6(a), 15 U.S.C. Section 1056(a), states that the Commissioner may require the applicant to disclaim an unregistrable component of a mark. Trademark Act Section 2(e), 15 U.S.C. Section 1052(e), bars the registration of a mark which is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive, or primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of the goods. Therefore, the Commissioner 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 or deceptively misdescriptive. If an applicant does not comply with a disclaimer requirement, the examining attorney may refuse registration of the entire mark. TMEP section 1213.01(b).
The applicant must insert a disclaimer of “CATFISH” in the application because the term merely describes the type of goods for which the mark is intended. Trademark Act Section 6, 15 U.S.C. Section 1056; TMEP section 1213. The term “CATFISH” is merely descriptive because it denotes either the goods’ origin or a characteristic of the goods.
The computerized printing format for the Trademark Official Gazette requires a standard form for a disclaimer. TMEP section 1213.09(a)(i). A properly worded disclaimer should read as follows:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use CATFISH apart from the mark as shown.
See In re Owatonna Tool Co., 231 USPQ 493 (Comm'r Pats. 1983).
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.
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.
/GCH/
Gina C. Hayes, Esq.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Law Office 112, Madison East
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 571-272-9407
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
FOR INQUIRIES OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS OFFICE ACTION, PLEASE CONTACT THE ASSIGNED EXAMINING ATTORNEY SPECIFIED ABOVE.