UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

 

EXAMINER’S AMENDMENT/PRIORITY ACTION

 

 

RESPONSE TIME LIMIT:  To avoid abandonment, the Office must receive a proper response to this Office action within 6 months of the mailing or e-mailing date.  If applicant responds to the issues below within two months of the above mailing or e-mailing date, this case will be given priority handling. 

 

MAILING/E-MAILING DATE INFORMATION:  If the mailing or e-mailing date of this Office action does not appear above, this information can be obtained by visiting the USPTO website at http://tarr.gov.uspto.report/, inserting the application serial number, and viewing the prosecution history for the mailing date of the most recently issued Office communication.

 

OFFICE RECORDS SEARCH:  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.

 

ADVISORY – AMENDMENTS TO GOODS/SERVICES:  If the identification of goods and/or services has been amended below, any future amendments must be in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a) and TMEP §1402.07(e).

 

QUESTIONS:  Please contact the assigned trademark examining attorney with any questions.

 

 

Serial Number 76/669062

 

EXAMINER'S AMENDMENT

 

Certain conventions are purely administrative matters within the sole discretion of the Patent and Trademark Office.  In re Tee-Pak, Inc., 164 USPQ 88 (TTAB 1969).  In the instant case:

 

 “artificial turf” belongs not in Class 19 but Class 27

 

“The mark is presented in standard character format without claim to any particular font style, size, or color.”

 

 

 

PRIORITY ACTION

 

Applicant must respond to each refusal and/or requirement raised below.  If applicant responds to the issues below within two months of the above mailing or e-mailing date, this case will be given priority handling.  TMEP §§708.01 and 708.05.

 

 

1.         Identification––and classification––of goods/services.

An application’s identification of goods/services must be specific, definite, clear, accurate, and concise.  See In re Societe Generale des Eaux Minerales de Vittel S.A., 1 USPQ2d 1296 (TTAB 1986), rev'd on other grounds, 824 F.2d 957, 3 USPQ2d 1450 (Fed. Cir. 1987); Procter & Gamble Co. v. Economics Laboratory, Inc., 175 USPQ 505 (TTAB 1972), modified without opinion, 498 F.2d 1406, 181 USPQ 722 (C.C.P.A. 1974); In re Cardinal Laboratories, Inc., 149 USPQ 709 (TTAB 1966); California Spray-Chemical Corp. v. Osmose Wood Preserving Co. of America, Inc., 102 USPQ 321 (Comm'r Pats. 1954); Ex parte A.C. Gilbert Co., 99 USPQ 344 (Comm'r Pats. 1953); TMEP §1402.01. 

In the instant case, the identification of goods/services is unacceptable as indefinite and/or overbroad in part (“consulting and advising”).  Accordingly, the applicant must clarify the parts indicated below for the reasons given below.  The applicant may adopt the following identification (to the extent accurate):

Class 27––artificial turf

Class 35––assistance in franchised commercial business management, namely establishing and operating an advisory board for providing business consulting and advising to the dealers of a dealer network, with respect to the installation and selling of artificial turf products

Class 37––construction services, namely, planning, laying out, and custom installing of artificial turf; providing technical consulting and advising to the dealers of a dealer network, with respect to the installation of artificial turf products

This Office’s Acceptable Identification of Goods & Services Manual is accessible at http://tess2.gov.uspto.report/netahtml/tidm.html.  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.

 

2.         Entity/citizenship.

The application identifies the applicant as “Coevin Licensing LLC, a corporation”––which is inherently contradictory.  If the applicant is an LLC, then the applicant must amend its entity type to “limited liability company.”  37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(3); TMEP §§803.03 et seq.

 

•           Responding to this Office Action.

To respond formally to this Office Action, the applicant is strongly urged to utilize this Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/eTEASpageD.htm.

(If the applicant responds using regular mail, he/she is advised that such correspondence must bear the serial number, law office, and examining attorney’s name on the upper right corner of each page.  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; the undersigned’s fax number is (571) 273-9212.)

To check the status of an application at any time, the applicant 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 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 should contact the assigned Examining Attorney via e-mail: 

brendan.regan@uspto.gov

/J. Brendan Regan/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 113

571.272.9212

   

Advisory for TEAS-Plus filers––TEAS PLUS APPLICANTS MUST SUBMIT DOCUMENTS ELECTRONICALLY OR SUBMIT FEE:  TEAS-Plus applicants should submit the following documents using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html:  (1) responses to Office Actions; (2) preliminary amendments; (3) changes of correspondence address; (4) changes of owner’s address; (5) appointments and revocations of attorney; (6) Amendments to Allege Use; (7) Statements of Use; (8) requests for extension of time to file a statement of use, and (9) requests to delete a §1(b) basis.  If any of these documents are filed on paper, they must be accompanied by a $50 per class fee.  37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(1)(iv) and 2.23(a)(i).  In addition to the above, TEAS-Plus applicants must also continue to accept correspondence from the Office via e-mail throughout the examination process in order to avoid the additional fee.  37 C.F.R. §2.23(a)(2).