UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) ABOUT APPLICANT’S TRADEMARK APPLICATION

 

 

 

OFFICE ACTION

 

STRICT DEADLINE TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER

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.

 

ISSUE/MAILING DATE: 2/10/2014

 

 

THIS IS A FINAL ACTION.

 

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION NO. 1166443

 

This responds to applicant’s communication dated December 5, 2013, wherein applicant 1) clarified its citizenship; 2) addressed the examining attorney’s significance inquiry; and 3) amended its identification of goods and services.  Nos. 1 and 2 are acceptable and have been entered into the application record.  For the reasons set forth below, the requirement for an acceptable identification of goods and services is continued and made FINAL, in part:

 

IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES - IN PART

 

THIS PARTIAL FINAL REQUIREMENT APPLIES ONLY TO THE GOODS AND SERVICES SPECIFIED THEREIN

 

The amended identification of goods/services continues to include wording which is indefinite and must be clarified.  See TMEP §1402.01.  Applicant has largely adopted language proposed by the examining attorney.  However, this proposed language included certain “fill in the blank” passages which required applicant to add additional information regarding the nature or subject matter of the goods/services.  The amended identification contains several instances in which this additional information either was not provided or was not provided with sufficiently specificity. 

 

The Office requires a degree of particularity necessary to identify clearly goods and/or services covered by a mark.  See In re Omega SA, 494 F.3d 1362, 1365, 83 USPQ2d 1541, 1543-44 (Fed. Cir. 2007).  Descriptions of goods and services in applications must be specific, explicit, clear and concise.  TMEP §1402.01; see In re Cardinal Labs., Inc., 149 USPQ 709, 711 (TTAB 1966); Cal. Spray-Chem. Corp. v. Osmose Wood Pres. Co. of Am., 102 USPQ 321, 322 (Comm’r Pats. 1954).

 

The Trademark Act requires that a trademark or service mark application must include a “specification of … the goods [or services]” in connection with which the mark is being used or will be used.  15 U.S.C. §1051(a)(2) (emphasis added), (b)(2) (emphasis added); see 15 U.S.C. §1053.  Specifically, a complete application must include a “list of the particular goods or services on or in connection with which the applicant uses or intends to use the mark.”  37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6) (emphasis added).  This requirement for a specification of the particular goods and/or services applies to applications filed under all statutory bases.  See 15 U.S.C. §§1051(a)(2), 1051(b)(2), 1053, 1126(d)-(e), 1141f; 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §§1402.01, 1402.01(b)-(c).

 

Accordingly, applicant must correct or delete the relevant passages requiring additional detail.  In particular:

 

Class 9:

 

The wording “audio and video recordings featuring (specify subject matter, e.g., music, comedy performances, children's animation)” must be amended to replace the parenthetical language with specific wording indicating the subject matter of applicant’s recorded goods.   

 

Applicant may substitute the following wording, if accurate: “audio and video recordings featuring music, comedy performances, and children's animation”.

 

The remainder of the amended Class 9 identification is acceptable.

 

Class 38:

 

Acceptable as amended.

 

Class 41:

 

1. The wording “Educational services, namely, providing classes, seminars, workshops in the fields of indicate subject matter or fields of entertainment” must be clarified to delete extraneous language (e.g., “indicate subject matter”) and to specify recognizable fields of study.  In this regard, the term “entertainment” is insufficient to indicate the subject matter of the services because it could encompass an overly broad range of pursuits.  Applicant must clarify the wording accordingly, e.g., “Educational services, namely, providing classes, seminars, workshops in the fields animation and video production”.

 

2. Similarly, the wording “Training services in the field of entertainment” remains indefinite because the field of training is not sufficiently specific.  The amended wording could encompass a broad range of entertainment related topics, including those potentially unrelated to applicant’s actual field.  Applicant must clarify the wording accordingly, e.g., “training services in the field of entertainment, namely, animation and video production”.

 

The remainder of the amended Class 41 identification is acceptable.

 

Please note that, while the identification of goods/services may be amended to clarify or limit the goods/services, adding to the goods or broadening the scope of the goods/services is not permitted. 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06. Therefore, applicant may not amend the identification to include goods/services that are not within the scope of the goods/services set forth in the present identification.

 

Moreover, the international classification of goods and/or services in applications filed under Trademark Act Section 66(a) cannot be changed from the classification given to the goods and/or services by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization in the corresponding international registration. TMEP §§1401.03(d), 1401.04 and 1904.02(b).

 

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.

 

RESPONDING TO A FINAL OFFICE ACTION

 

Applicant must respond within six months of the date of issuance of this final Office action or the following goods and/or services to which the final refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) apply will be deleted from the application by Examiner’s Amendment: The wording “audio and video recordings featuring (specify subject matter, e.g., music, comedy performances, children's animation)” in Class 9;  "Educational services, namely, providing classes, seminars, workshops in the fields of indicate subject matter or fields of entertainment,” in Class 41; and “Training services in the field of entertainment,” in Class 41.  37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); see 15 U.S.C. §1062(b).

 

The application will then proceed for the remaining goods and services. 

 

Applicant may respond by providing one or both of the following:

 

(1)  A response that fully satisfies all outstanding requirements;

 

(2)  An appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, with the appeal fee of $100 per class.

 

37 C.F.R. §2.64(a); TMEP §714.04; see 37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(18); TBMP ch. 1200.

 

In certain rare circumstances, an applicant may respond by filing a petition to the Director pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(2) to review procedural issues.  37 C.F.R. §2.64(a); TMEP §714.04; see 37 C.F.R. §2.146(b); TBMP §1201.05; TMEP §1704 (explaining petitionable matters).  The petition fee is $100.  37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(15).

 

If the applicant has any questions or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please e-mail or telephone the assigned examining attorney.

 

/SMP/

Steven M. Perez

Trademark Attorney

Law Office 101

(571) 272-5888

steven.perez@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 the Trademark Electronic Application System (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 the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system at http://tsdr.gov.uspto.report/.  Please keep a copy of the TSDR status screen.  If the status shows no change for more than six months, contact the Trademark Assistance Center by e-mail at TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov or 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/trademarks/teas/correspondence.jsp.

 

 

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR

U.S. TRADEMARK APPLICATION

 

USPTO OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) HAS ISSUED

ON 2/10/2014 FOR U.S. APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 79132532

 

Please follow the instructions below:

 

(1)  TO READ THE LETTER:  Click on this link or go to http://tsdr.uspto.gov,enter the U.S. application serial number, and click on “Documents.”

 

The Office action may not be immediately viewable, to allow for necessary system updates of the application, but will be available within 24 hours of this e-mail notification.

 

(2)  TIMELY RESPONSE IS REQUIRED:  Please carefully review the Office action to determine (1) how to respond, and (2) the applicable response time period.  Your response deadline will be calculated from 2/10/2014 (or sooner if specified in the Office action).  For information regarding response time periods, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/process/status/responsetime.jsp.

 

Do NOT hit “Reply” to this e-mail notification, or otherwise e-mail your response because the USPTO does NOT accept e-mails as responses to Office actions.  Instead, the USPTO recommends that you respond online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) response form located at http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/response_forms.jsp.

 

(3)  QUESTIONS:  For questions about the contents of the Office action itself, please contact the assigned trademark examining attorney.  For technical assistance in accessing or viewing the Office action in the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system, please e-mail TSDR@uspto.gov.

 

WARNING

 

Failure to file the required response by the applicable response deadline will result in the ABANDONMENT of your application.  For more information regarding abandonment, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/basics/abandon.jsp.

 

PRIVATE COMPANY SOLICITATIONS REGARDING YOUR APPLICATION:  Private companies not associated with the USPTO are using information provided in trademark applications to mail or e-mail trademark-related solicitations.  These companies often use names that closely resemble the USPTO and their solicitations may look like an official government document.  Many solicitations require that you pay “fees.” 

 

Please carefully review all correspondence you receive regarding this application to make sure that you are responding to an official document from the USPTO rather than a private company solicitation.  All official USPTO correspondence will be mailed only from the “United States Patent and Trademark Office” in Alexandria, VA; or sent by e-mail from the domain “@uspto.gov.”  For more information on how to handle private company solicitations, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/solicitation_warnings.jsp.