UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

 

PRIORITY ACTION

 

 

RESPONSE TIME LIMIT:  To avoid abandonment, the Office must receive a proper response to this Office action within six-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.  TMEP §708.01.

 

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.

 

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

 

 

Serial Number  77/100979

 

The following were discussed in communication with Sunisha S. Choksi, Esq. on May 24, 2007.  Applicant must respond to each refusal and/or requirement raised below.

 

Identification of Goods

 

The wording “oilfield drilling tool” in the identification of goods needs clarification because the nature of the goods is unclear and the wording may refer to goods in more than one International Class.  Applicant must amend the identification of goods to specify the common commercial or generic name for the goods.  If there is no common commercial or generic name for the product, then applicant must describe the product and intended consumer as well as its main purpose and intended uses.  TMEP §1402.01.  Power operated tools, such as power drills, are in International Class 7, whereas hand tools of the same type are in International Class 8. 

 

Applicant may adopt the following identification of goods, if accurate: 

 

“Oilfield drilling tool, namely {specify common commercial name, e.g. power drills, etc.},” in International Class 7;

 

“Oilfield drilling tool, namely {specify common commercial name, e.g. hand drills, etc.},” in International Class 8.

 

TMEP §1402.01.

 

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 and classifying 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.

 

Requirements for a Multiple Class Application

 

If applicant prosecutes this application as a combined, or multiple-class application, then applicant must comply with each of the following for those goods and/or services based on an intent to use the mark in commerce under Trademark Act Section 1(b):

 

(1)   Applicant must list the goods and/or services by international class with the classes listed in ascending numerical order.  TMEP § 1403.01; and

 

(2)   Applicant must submit a filing fee for each international class of goods and/or services not covered by the fee already paid (current fee information should be confirmed at http://www.uspto.gov).  37 C.F.R. §2.86(a)(2); TMEP §§810 and 1403.01.

 

37 C.F.R. §§2.6, 2.34(a), 2.59, 2.71(c), and 2.86(a); TMEP §§810, 904.09, 1403.01 and 1403.02(c).

 

The filing fee for adding classes to an application is as follows:

 

(1)     $325 per class, when the fees are submitted with a response filed online via the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html; and

 

(2)     $375 per class, when the fees are submitted with a paper response. 

 

37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(i) and (ii); TMEP §810.

 

Color Claim and Location Statement

 

Applicant’s color claim includes only orange, however both black and white also appear in the drawing.  As such, the color claim and color location statement do not identify all the colors appearing in the drawing of the mark.  The color claim and location statement must identify all the colors in the mark on the drawing.  37 C.F.R. §2.52(b)(1); TMEP §§807.07 et seq. 

 

The drawing shows the proposed mark in various colors, including white.  Therefore, applicant must clarify whether white is claimed as color and/or is intended to indicate background, outlining, shading or transparent areas and are not part of the mark. 

 

If white is being used as a color in the mark, it must be added to the color claim and color location statement, i.e., it must be added to the list of colors being claimed as a feature of the mark and added to the statement describing where the colors appear in the mark.  If it is not being used as a color, applicant must amend the color location statement to describe where the white appears in the mark and state that it constitutes background, outlining, shading or transparent areas and are not part of the mark. 

 

Accordingly, applicant must submit a complete color claim and color description of the mark that reference all the colors appearing in the drawing of the mark.  37 C.F.R. §2.52(b)(1); TMEP §807.07(a)(ii). 

 

The following color claim and color location statement are suggested:  color claim: orange, white, and blue.  Color location statement: “The color orange appears in the large circle, white appears in the lettering ITS within the circle and the circle above the letter I: black appears in the curved band around the bottom half of the circle and in the wording ITS EASY TRAK.”

 

Advisory: Amendments to the Drawing

 

To submit a special-form drawing electronically via the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), applicant must attach a digitized image of the mark to the communication.  The requirements for an electronically submitted special-form drawing are as follows:

 

• 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. 

 

• The drawing must appear in black and white if color is not claimed as a feature of the mark, or in color if color is claimed as a feature of the mark.

 

• All lines in the image must be clean, sharp and solid, and not fine or crowded, and produce a high-quality image when copied. 

 

37 C.F.R. §§2.52(b) and 2.53(c); TMEP §§807.04 et seq and 807.05(c). 

 

If applicant has questions about its application or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please telephone the assigned trademark examining attorney directly at the number below.

 

/RJ Povarchuk/

Rebecca J. Povarchuk

Trademark Examining Attorney

Law Office 115

Tel: (571) 270-1529

Fax: (571) 270-2529

 

 

 

 

NOTICE OF NEW PROCEDURE FOR E-MAILED OFFICE ACTIONS:  In late spring 2007, for any applicant who authorizes e-mail communication with the USPTO, the USPTO will no longer directly e-mail the actual Office action to the applicant.  Instead, upon issuance of an Office action, the USPTO will e-mail the applicant a notice with a link/web address to access the Office action using Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR), which is located on the USPTO website at http://portal.gov.uspto.report/external/portal/tow.  The Office action will not be attached to the e-mail notice.  Upon receipt of the notice, the applicant can then view and print the actual Office action and any evidentiary attachments using the provided link/web address.  TDR is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays and weekends.  This new process is intended to eliminate problems associated with e-mailed Office actions that contain numerous attachments.

 

 

 

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS OFFICE ACTION:

·            ONLINE RESPONSE:  You may respond using the Office’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Response to Office action form available on our website at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html.  If the Office action issued via e-mail, you must wait 72 hours after receipt of the Office action to respond via TEAS.  NOTE:  Do not respond by e-mail.  THE USPTO WILL NOT ACCEPT AN E-MAILED RESPONSE.

·            REGULAR MAIL RESPONSE:  To respond by regular mail, your response should be sent to the mailing return address above, and include the serial number, law office number, and examining attorney’s name.  NOTE:  The filing date of the response will be the date of receipt in the Office, not the postmarked date.  To ensure your response is timely, use a certificate of mailing.  37 C.F.R. §2.197.

 

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