TMEP 1402.05(a) Goods That Are Components or Ingredients
When a mark is used to identify only a component or ingredient of a product, and not the entire product, the identification should precisely set forth the component or ingredient. In other words, when the specimen or other material in the record clearly indicates that the mark relates only to a distinguishable part, component or ingredient of a composite or finished product, then the application should identify that component or ingredient as the goods. The identification should leave no doubt that the mark refers only to one part and not to the entire product. Also, the identification should indicate the types of finished products of which the identified components or ingredients form a part, e.g.,"liposomes for use as an ingredient in face creams." See Ex parte Joseph&Feiss Co.,114 USPQ 463 (Comm'r Pats. 1957);Ex parte Palm Beach Co.,114 USPQ 463 (Comm'r Pats. 1957);MercantileStores Co. v. Joseph&Feiss Co.,112 USPQ 298 (Comm'r Pats. 1957);In re Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co.,75 USPQ 202 (Comm'r Pats. 1947).
If the mark does not pertain solely to a component or ingredient rather than the finished or composite product, the identification should not specify the component or ingredient as the goods.
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When classifying component or ingredient marks, a distinction should be made between marks that identify these products sold as separate ingredients or components and used to make the finished product, and marks that identify components or ingredients sold as part of the finished product. In the first situation, the goods are classified in the class of the component or ingredient since it has not yet been transformed into the finished product. In the second, the goods are classified in the class of the finished product since the component or ingredient has now been incorporated into other goods. In this situation, the examining attorney should make sure that the specimen shows use of the mark to identify the component or ingredient and not to identify the finished product in its entirety.