UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)
OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) ABOUT REGISTRANT’S TRADEMARK REGISTRATION
| REGISTRATION NO. 3973377 REGISTRANT: Handshake Media, Incorporated | |
| CORRESPONDENT’S ADDRESS: | CLICK HERE TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER: http://www.uspto.gov/teas/eTEASpageC.htm |
| MARK: HANDSHAKE | |
| CORRESPONDENT’S REFERENCE/DOCKET NO. N/A CORRESPONDENT’S EMAIL ADDRESS: | |
POST REGISTRATION OFFICE ACTION
ISSUE/MAILING DATE: 12/6/2012
Registration Number 3973377
The Request to Divide the Registration submitted on July 19, 2012, cannot be accepted for the reason(s) set forth below.
The party who filed the Request to Divide the Registration must establish its partial ownership of the subject registration, and record the appropriate documents in the Assignment Division. The Trademark Act requires the current partial owner(s) of the registration to file the Request to Divide the Registration. 15 U.S.C. §1057; 37 C.F.R. §§2.171(b)(1) and 3.85; TMEP §§502.01 and 1615.01. Office records do not show clear chain of title in the party who filed the Request to Divide the Registration.
PLEASE NOTE: A registration can be divided only if ownership of the registration has changed with respect to some, but not all, of the goods/services. 37 C.F.R. §2.171(b).
TMEP 1615 Division of Registrations
37 C.F.R. §2.171(b) Partial change of ownership.
(1) In a registration resulting from an application based on section 1 or section 44 of the Act, if ownership of a registration has changed with respect to some but not all of the goods and/or services, the owner(s) may file a request that the registration be divided into two or more separate registrations. The assignment or other document changing title must be recorded in the Office. The request to divide must include the fee required by §2.6(a)(8) for each new registration created by the division, and be signed by the owner of the registration, someone with legal authority to bind the owner (e.g., a corporate officer or general partner of a partnership), or a practitioner qualified to practice under §11.14 of this chapter, in accordance with §2.193(e)(2) of this chapter.
(2)
(i) When the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization notifies the Office that an international registration has been divided as the result of a change of ownership with respect to some but not all of the goods or services, the Office will construe the International Bureau’s notice as a request to divide. The Office will record the partial change of ownership in the Assignment Services Branch, and divide out the assigned goods/services from the registered extension of protection (parent registration), issue an updated certificate for the parent registration, and publish notice of the parent registration in the Official Gazette.
(ii) The Office will create a new registration number for the child registration, and enter the information about the new registration in its automated records. The Office will notify the new owner that the new owner must pay the fee required by §2.6 to obtain a new registration certificate for the child registration. It is not necessary for the new owner to file a separate request to divide.
(iii) The Office will not divide a registered extension of protection unless the International Bureau notifies the Office that the international registration has been divided.
ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION
For information regarding recording assignments, name changes and mergers, please visit the webpage http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/workflow/assign.htm and see TMEP §§503 et seq. For specific questions, please contact the Assignment Division at 571-272-3350. To expedite recordation, the owner is encouraged to file requests for recordation through the Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) at http://etas.uspto.gov. There is a fee for recording ownership documents.
You must notify the undersigned paralegal when ownership documents have been filed and/or recorded in the Assignment Division.
The owner has six months from the issuance date of this letter to respond to all the issues raised in this letter. In order to expedite the processing of your Section 7 Request for Correction, the early submission of a response to this letter is encouraged. If a complete response is not received in the Office within this time period, then the Section 7 Request for Correction will be considered abandoned. 37 C.F.R. §2.176.
/Territa E. Gray/
Trademark Specialist
Post Registration Division
571.272.9527 Office
571.273.9527 Fax
Territa.Gray@uspto.gov
TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER: Use the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Response to Post-Registration Office action form at http://www.uspto.gov/teas/eTEASpageC.htm. Please wait 48-72 hours from the issue/mailing date before using TEAS, to allow for necessary system updates of the registration. For technical assistance with online forms, e-mail TEAS@uspto.gov.
WHO MUST SIGN THE RESPONSE: It must be personally signed by (1) an individual registrant; (2) someone with legal authority to bind registrant (i.e., a corporate officer, a general partner, all joint applicants); or (3) an authorized attorney, if one is appointed to represent registrant. If a registrant is represented by an attorney, the attorney must sign the response.
TO UPDATE CORRESPONDENCE/E-MAIL ADDRESS: Use the TEAS form at http://www.uspto.gov/teas/eTEASpageE.htm.
FOR INQUIRIES OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS OFFICE ACTION, PLEASE CONTACT THE ASSIGNED SPECIALIST.