UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

 

 

OFFICE 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. 

 

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.

 

Serial Number  79/028704

 

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION NO. 0635050C 

 

This is a PROVISIONAL FULL REFUSAL of the trademark and/or service mark in the above-referenced U.S. application.  15 U.S.C. §1141h(c).

 

WHO IS PERMITTED TO RESPOND TO THIS PROVISIONAL FULL REFUSAL:

 

Applicant may respond directly to this provisional refusal Office action, or applicant’s attorney may respond on applicant’s behalf.  However, the only attorneys who can practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in trademark matters are:

 

(1)   Attorneys in good standing with the bar of any U.S. federal court or the highest court of any U.S. state, and

 

(2)   Canadian attorneys who have applied for and received reciprocal recognition by the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §10.14(c). 

 

37 C.F.R. §10.14; TMEP §602.

 

Foreign attorneys are not permitted to practice before the USPTO, other than properly authorized Canadian attorneys.  Preparing a paper, authorizing an amendment to an application, or submitting legal arguments in response to a requirement or refusal constitutes representation of a party in a trademark matter.  A response signed by an unauthorized foreign attorney will be considered an incomplete response.  TMEP §§602, 602.03, 603.05.

 

THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN PROVISIONALLY REFUSED AS FOLLOWS:

 

 

The assigned examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and determined the following.

 

Search of the Office Records

 

The examining attorney has searched the Office records and has found no similar registered or pending mark which would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).  TMEP §704.02.

 

 

Identification of Goods

 

The identification of goods for Class 16 is acceptable.   However, the language “data processing equipment” in the identification of goods for Class 9 is unacceptable as indefinite because it fails to indicate the type of equipment (i.e., data processors, etc.).  Also, are these goods for use with GPS systems, route planners, etc.?  The applicant must amend the identification to specify the common commercial name of the goods.  If there is no common commercial name, the applicant must describe the product and its intended uses.  TMEP §1402.01. 

 

Applicant must remove any parentheses from the identification of goods and/or services and incorporate the parenthetical information into the description.  Generally, parentheses and brackets should not be used in identifications.  Parenthetical information is only permitted in identifications if it serves to explain or translate the matter immediately preceding the parenthetical phrase in such a way that it does not affect the clarity of the identification, e.g., “obi (Japanese sash).”  TMEP §1402.12.

 

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

 

Class 9:  Data processors and computers for use with navigation GPS systems, route planners, asset tracking, fleet management, and delivery of location based services, all such equipment and computers also for wireless handling and for handling via global computer networks, namely, the Internet;

 

Class 16:  Printed matter, namely, road maps, city printed plans, atlases, maps, printed geographical directories.

 

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.

 

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 goods or services that are not within the scope of goods set forth in the present identification.  Also, goods or services deleted by amendment may not be reinserted at a later point in prosecution.  See TMEP §§1402.06(a) and 1402.07(e). 

 

Prior Registration

 

If the applicant is the owner of Registration No. 1987476, the applicant must submit a claim of ownership.  37 C.F.R. §2.36; TMEP §812.

 

Entity

 

The applicant failed to state the country under which laws it is organized (i.e., Switzerland).  Applicant must set forth the country under whose laws applicant is organized.  37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(3)(ii). 

 

 

 

Response Guidelines

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:  Applicant is encouraged to telephone the trademark examining attorney to resolve the issues raised above.  If the examining attorney is unavailable, the applicant is encouraged to leave a detailed voicemail message including its name, phone number, serial number and instructions regarding each issue raised in this action.

 

 

Please note that there is no required format or form for responding to this Office action.  However, applicant should include the following information on all correspondence with the Office:  (1) the name and law office number of the examining attorney; (2) the serial number of this application; (3) the mailing date of this Office action; and, (4) applicant's telephone number.

 

When responding to this Office action, applicant must make sure to respond in writing to each refusal and requirement raised.  If there is a refusal to register the proposed mark, then applicant may wish to argue against the refusal, i.e., explain why it should be withdrawn and why the mark should register.  If there are other requirements, then applicant should simply set forth in writing the required changes or statements and request that the Office enter them into the application record.  Applicant must also sign and date its response.

 

The Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) database on the USPTO website at http://tarr.uspto.gov provides detailed, up to the minute information about the status and prosecution history of trademark applications and registrations.  Please note that an application serial number or registration number is needed to be able to access this database.  TARR is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

 

 

 

/Laurie Mayes/

Trademark Attorney

Law Office 101

PH (571) 272-5874

Fax (571) 273-9101

 

 

 

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

 

FOR INQUIRIES OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS OFFICE ACTION, PLEASE CONTACT THE ASSIGNED EXAMINING ATTORNEY SPECIFIED ABOVE.