UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)
OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) ABOUT APPLICANT’S TRADEMARK APPLICATION
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APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 79110904
MARK: NEOX
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CORRESPONDENT ADDRESS: |
CLICK HERE TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER: http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/response_forms.jsp
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APPLICANT: MAGOTTEAUX INTERNATIONAL S.A.
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CORRESPONDENT’S REFERENCE/DOCKET NO: CORRESPONDENT E-MAIL ADDRESS: |
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TO AVOID ABANDONMENT OF APPLICANT’S TRADEMARK APPLICATION, THE USPTO MUST RECEIVE APPLICANT’S COMPLETE RESPONSE TO THIS LETTER WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF THE ISSUE/MAILING DATE BELOW.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION NO. 1111157
This is a PROVISIONAL FULL REFUSAL of the trademark and/or service mark in the above-referenced U.S. application. See 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 if applicant is not represented by an authorized attorney. See 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(ii). Otherwise, applicant’s authorized attorney must respond on applicant’s behalf. See 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(i). However, the only attorneys who are authorized to sign responses and 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, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other federal territories and possessions of the United States.
(2) Canadian agents/attorneys who represent applicants located in Canada and (a) are registered with the USPTO and in good standing as patent agents or (b) have been granted reciprocal recognition by the USPTO.
See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(e), 2.62(b), 11.1, 11.5(b)(2), 11.14(a), (c); TMEP §§602, 712.03.
Foreign attorneys, other than authorized Canadian attorneys, are not permitted to represent applicants before the USPTO. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(e), 11.14(c), (e); TMEP §602.03-.03(b). That is, foreign attorneys may not file written communications, authorize an amendment to an application, or submit legal arguments in response to a requirement or refusal, among other things. See 37 C.F.R. §11.5(b)(2); TMEP §§602.03(c), 608.01. If applicant is represented by such a foreign attorney, applicant must respond directly to this provisional refusal Office action. See 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(ii).
DESIGNATION OF DOMESTIC REPRESENTATIVE:
The USPTO encourages applicants who do not reside in the U.S. to designate a domestic representative upon whom notices or process may be served. 15 U.S.C. §§1051(e), 1141h(d); 37 C.F.R. §2.24(a)(1)-(2); see TMEP §610. Such designations may be filed online at http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/index.jsp.
THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN PROVISIONALLY REFUSED AS FOLLOWS:
NO CONFLICTING MARKS FOUND
The trademark examining attorney has searched the Office’s database of registered and pending marks and has found no conflicting marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d). TMEP §704.02; see 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).
SUMMARY OF ISSUES THAT APPLICANT MUST ADDRESS
The identification of goods and/or services is indefinite and must be clarified to further specify the nature or use of certain goods, as set out in bold below. See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §§1402.01, 1402.03.
Therefore, applicant must remove the parentheses from the identification of goods and/or services and incorporate the parenthetical information into the description.
In an application filed under Trademark Act Section 66(a), an applicant may not change the classification of goods and/or services from that assigned by the International Bureau in the corresponding international registration. 37 C.F.R. §2.85(d); TMEP §§1401.03(d), 1904.02(b). Further, in a multiple-class Section 66(a) application, an applicant may not transfer goods and/or services from one existing international class to another. 37 C.F.R. §2.85(d); see TMEP §§1402.07(a), 1904.02(c).
Therefore, any modification to this wording must identify goods and/or services in International Class 6, the classification specified in the application for these goods and/or services.
The following substitute wording is suggested, if accurate:
Class 6: Common metals, unwrought or semi-wrought, and their alloys; alloys of common metal, namely, metal/ceramic composite material in the nature of an alloy intended for the manufacture of reinforced foundry parts; special steels and steel alloys, refractory steels, stainless steels, highly alloyed special steels for resistance to wear and tear, shocks, heat and corrosion, and cast parts made of these steels and alloys, namely, {specify common commercial name for parts, e.g., nuts, bolts}; unwrought or semi-wrought cast iron, alloys of cast iron, highly alloyed special cast irons for resistance to wear and tear, shocks, heat and corrosion, and cast parts made of these cast irons and alloys, namely, {specify common commercial name for parts, e.g., nuts, bolts}; fireplace grates in the nature of sinter strand grates, valves of stainless steels other than parts of machines, special metal plugs; alloys of common metal, namely, metal/ceramic composite material intended for the manufacture of reinforced foundry parts; grinding elements of metal/ceramic alloy for industrial grinders, namely, {specify type, e.g., steel balls, steel grinding beads for use in wet milling}; metal chains for furnaces.
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. See TMEP §1402.04.
MARK DESCRIPTION REQUIRED
The mark consists of the stylized wording “NEOX” in blue. A curved red line forms part of the upper X in “NEOX”.
ASSISTANCE
/Tarah Hardy Ludlow/
Trademark Attorney
Law Office 110
571-272-9361
tarah.hardy@uspto.gov
TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER: Go to http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/response_forms.jsp. Please wait 48-72 hours from the issue/mailing date before using TEAS, to allow for necessary system updates of the application. For technical assistance with online forms, e-mail TEAS@uspto.gov. For questions about the Office action itself, please contact the assigned trademark examining attorney. E-mail communications will not be accepted as responses to Office actions; therefore, do not respond to this Office action by e-mail.
All informal e-mail communications relevant to this application will be placed in the official application record.
WHO MUST SIGN THE RESPONSE: It must be personally signed by an individual applicant or someone with legal authority to bind an applicant (i.e., a corporate officer, a general partner, all joint applicants). If an applicant is represented by an attorney, the attorney must sign the response.
PERIODICALLY CHECK THE STATUS OF THE APPLICATION: To ensure that applicant does not miss crucial deadlines or official notices, check the status of the application every three to four months using Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) at http://tarr.gov.uspto.report/. Please keep a copy of the complete TARR screen. If TARR shows no change for more than six months, call 1-800-786-9199. For more information on checking status, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/process/status/.
TO UPDATE CORRESPONDENCE/E-MAIL ADDRESS: Use the TEAS form at http://www.gov.uspto.report/teas/eTEASpageE.htm.