UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
SERIAL NO: 76/622069
APPLICANT: Brookshire Grocery Company
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CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
RETURN ADDRESS: Commissioner for Trademarks P.O. Box 1451 Alexandria, VA 22313-1451
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MARK: BROOKSHIRE'S EXPRESS LANE
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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 76/622069
The assigned trademark examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and has determined the following.
Information is enclosed concerning pending Application Serial No. 76354590. Although the Office records have been searched and no similar registered mark has been found that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d), there may be a likelihood of confusion under Section 2(d) of the Act between applicant’s mark and the mark in the above noted application. The filing date of the referenced application precedes applicant’s filing date. If the earlier‑filed application registers, registration may be refused under Section 2(d). 37 C.F.R. §2.83. Therefore, upon entry of a response to the Office action, action on this case may be suspended pending final disposition of the earlier-filed application.
If applicant believes that there is no potential conflict between this application and the earlier-filed application, then applicant may present arguments relevant to the issue in a request to remove the application from suspension. The election to file or not to file such a request at this time in no way limits applicant’s right to address this issue at a later point.
IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS
The terms “gum” and “snack chips” in the identification of goods are unacceptable as indefinite and because they could identify goods in more than one international class. The applicant must amend the identification to further specify the nature of the goods. In this regard, applicant should note that “snack chips” are identified and classified according to their composition, e.g., corn, potato, fruit.
In addition, applicant has classified “distilled water,” “drinking water,” and “spring water” in Class 30; however, the correct classifications are International Classes 1 and 32. Applicant must either delete these goods or add the appropriate class(es) to the application. 37 C.F.R. §§2.32(a)(7) and 2.85; TMEP §1401.04(b).
For example, the identification may be amended in the following manner, if accurate:
“Distilled water,” in Class 1;
“Snack chips, namely, potato chips,” in Class 29;
“Ice, ice cream, bread, bakery goods, coffee, chewing gum, candy, snack ships, namely, corn chips, grain based chips,” in Class 30.
“Drinking water, spring water,” in Class 32.
Please note that, while the identification of goods may be amended to clarify or limit the goods, adding to the goods or broadening the scope of the goods is not permitted. 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06. Therefore, applicant may not amend the identification to include goods that are not within the scope of the goods set forth in the present identification.
For assistance with identifying goods and/or services in trademark applications, please see the online searchable Manual of Acceptable Identifications of Goods and Services at http://tess2.gov.uspto.report/netahtml/tidm.html.
DRAWING
Applicant’s drawing contains extensive stippling which reduces legibility and partially obscures the mark’s design element. If this stippling is NOT intended to be part of the mark, applicant should submit a new drawing with the stippling removed and showing the entire mark clearly and conforming to 37 C.F.R. §§2.52, 2.53(c) and 2.54(e).
The requirements for a special-form drawing are as follows:
37 C.F.R. §§2.52(b); TMEP §§807.04 et seq.
If submitted on paper, the Office prefers that the drawing be depicted on a separate sheet of non-shiny, white paper that is 8 to 8.5 inches wide and 11 to 11.69 inches long (20.3 to 21.6 cm. wide and 27.9 to 29.7 cm. long). One of the shorter sides of the sheet should be regarded as its top edge. In addition, the drawing should include the caption “DRAWING PAGE” at the top of the drawing beginning one-inch (2.5 cm) from the top edge. 37 C.F.R. §2.54; TMEP §§807.06 et seq.
To submit a special form drawing electronically, applicant must attach a digitized image of the mark to the submission. The digitized image must be in .jpg format, formatted at no less than 300 dots per inch and no more than 350 dots per inch. The Office recommends that the digitized image of the mark have a length and width of no smaller than 250 pixels and no larger than 944 pixels. 37 C.F.R. §2.53(c); TMEP §807.05(c). All lines in the image must be clean, sharp and solid, and not fine or crowded, and produce a high quality image when copied.
The Office strictly enforces these drawing requirements.
If the stippling is, in fact, intended as part of the mark, applicant should clarify this point. In such case, and since reproduction of the original drawing for publication may render the elements of the mark illegible and result in gray shading, applicant also should submit a statement describing the mark and confirming whether the color gray is express claimed as a feature of the mark. The description statement may be worded as follows:
“The mark consists in part of the wording EXPRESS LANE preceded by four parallel lines indicating speed.”
If the applicant has any questions or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please e-mail or telephone the assigned examining attorney.
/Steven Perez/
Steven M. Perez
Trademark Attorney
Law Office 101
(571) 272-5888
steven.perez@uspto.gov
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.