UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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SERIAL NO: 79/029923
APPLICANT: EKONO SARL
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CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
RETURN ADDRESS: Commissioner for Trademarks P.O. Box 1451 Alexandria, VA 22313-1451
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MARK: FAHRENHEIT
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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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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 79/029923
INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION NO. 0901061
This is a PROVISIONAL PARTIAL REFUSAL of the trademark and/or service mark in the above-referenced U.S. application that applies to only the following goods in the application: “vats” and “or frying pans” 15 U.S.C. §1141h(c).
WHO IS PERMITTED TO RESPOND TO THIS PROVISIONAL PARTIAL 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 USPTO in trademark matters are as follows:
(1) Attorneys in good standing with a bar of 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). Canadian attorneys can only represent Canadian applicants.
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 is considered an incomplete response. TMEP §§602, 602.03, 603.05.
THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN PROVISIONALLY PARTIALLY REFUSED AS FOLLOWS:
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.
NOTE: This is a partial refusal Office action. The requirement in this Office action applies only to specified goods in the U.S. application.
The applicant’s identification of goods is “Household and kitchen utensils and containers, namely saucepans, non-electric hot pots, cooking pots, vats, earthenware saucepans or frying pans.”
The wording “vats” in the identification of goods is indefinite and must be clarified because applicant must specify the use for the vat. TMEP §§1402.01 and 1402.03. Applicant must amend the identification to specify the common commercial name of the goods. If there is no common commercial name, applicant must describe the product and its intended uses. TMEP §1402.01.
The international classification of goods in applications filed under Trademark Act Section 66(a) cannot be changed from the classification the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization assigned to the goods in the corresponding international registration. TMEP §§1401.03(d) and 1904.02(b).
Therefore, any modification to this wording must identify goods in International Class 21, the classification specified in the application for these goods and/or services.
The following substitute wording is suggested, if appropriate: “vats, namely containers for household or kitchen use,” in International Class 21.
The applicant must additionally amend the identification to delete the term “or” before “frying pans.” The term “or” is not acceptable because it makes it unclear whether the goods include both earthenware saucepans and frying pans or simply earthen ware saucepans. The applicant may amend to substitute the term “and.”
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 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.
If applicant should fail to respond to this Office action within the six month time limit, then the following goods will be deleted from the application: “vats” and “or frying pans.” The application will then proceed with the following goods only: “Household and kitchen utensils and containers, namely saucepans, non-electric hot pots, cooking pots, earthenware saucepans.” 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a).
Please note that there is no required format or form for responding to this Office action. The Office recommends applicants use the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) to respond to Office actions online at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/index.html. However, if applicant responds on paper via regular mail, the response should include the following information: (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.
The response should address each refusal and/or requirement raised in the Office action. If a refusal has issued, applicant may wish to argue against the refusal, i.e., submit arguments and/or evidence as to why the refusal should be withdrawn and why the mark should register. To respond to requirements, applicant should simply set forth in writing the required changes or statements and request that the Office enter them into the application record.
The response must be signed by applicant or someone with legal authority to bind applicant (i.e., a corporate officer of a corporate applicant, the equivalent of an officer for unincorporated organizations or limited liability company applicants, a general partner of a partnership applicant, each applicant for applications with multiple individual applicants, etc.). TMEP §§712 et seq.
If the applicant has any questions or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please telephone the assigned examining attorney.
/Tashia A. Bunch/
Tashia A. Bunch
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 105
Phone: 571-272-8195
Fax: 571-273-9105
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.