To: | Steelcase Inc. (trademarks@steelcase.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4544205 - REGARD - 128932-0-USA |
Sent: | 03/25/20 01:24:46 PM |
Sent As: | prg@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Owner’s Trademark Registration
U.S. Registration No. 4544205
Mark: REGARD
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Correspondence Address: |
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Owner: Steelcase Inc.
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Reference/Docket No. 128932-0-USA
Correspondence Email Address: |
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OFFICE ACTION
The USPTO must receive the owner’s response to this letter within the time period specified below. Respond using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). A link to the appropriate TEAS response form appears below.
Issue date: March 25, 2020
The Sections 8 & 15 Combined Affidavit submitted on JANUARY 29, 2020, cannot be accepted or acknowledged for the reasons set forth below.
Owner/holder must provide owner’s/holder’s domicile address. All post registration filings must include the owner’s/holder’s domicile address, and domicile dictates whether an owner/holder is required to have an attorney who is an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a U.S. state or territory represent the owner/holder at the USPTO. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.2(o)-(p), 2.11(a), 2.189; Requirement of U.S.-Licensed Attorney for Foreign-Domiciled Trademark Applicants & Registrants, Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. (Rev. Sept. 2019).
An individual owner’s/holder’s domicile is the place a person resides and intends to be the person’s principal home. See 37 C.F.R. §2.2(o); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. A juristic entity owner’s/holder’s domicile is the principal place of business, i.e., headquarters, where a juristic entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. 37 C.F.R. §2.2(p); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. An owner/holder whose domicile is located outside of the United States or its territories is foreign-domiciled and must be represented at the USPTO by a U.S.-licensed attorney qualified to practice before the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §11.14. 37 C.F.R. §2.11(a).
The post registration filing lists the owner/holder as a juristic entity and specifies the owner’s/holder’s domicile as a post office box instead of a street address. In most cases, a post office box is not acceptable as a domicile address because it does not identify the location of the owner’s/holder’s headquarters where the entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. See37 C.F.R. §§2.2(o)-(p), 2.189; Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3. Thus, the owner/holder must provide its domicile street address. See 37 C.F.R. §2.189. Alternatively, an owner/holder may demonstrate that the listed address is, in fact, the owner’s/holder’s domicile. Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3.
ADVISORY: If a response to this Office action is not filed within the response deadline above, and time remains in the grace period, the owner may avoid cancellation of its registration by filing a new affidavit of use within the grace period. 37 C.F.R. §2.163(c). Additional fees are required to file a new affidavit during the grace period. 37 C.F.R. §2.161(d)(1)-(2). For more information about this, please contact the undersigned.
How to respond. Click to file a Response to Post-Registration Office action.
Direct questions about this Office action to the Post Registration staff member below.
Henson, Everett
/Everett J. Henson/
Trademark Specialist Post Registration Branch
Phone: (571)-272-9529
e-mail: everett.henson@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE