Offc Action Outgoing

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:

The referenced application has been reviewed by the assigned trademark examining attorney. Applicant must respond timely and completely to the issues below. 15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(a), 2.65(a); TMEP §§711, 718.03.

NO CONFLICTING MARKS

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).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MARK

Applicant must specify whether the wording “SHIMA” has any significance in the clothing or retail trade or industry or as applied to the goods/services described in the application, or if such wording is a “term of art” within applicant’s industry or has any meaning in a foreign language. See 37 C.F.R. §2.61(b); TMEP §§808.01(a), 814.

Failure to respond to a request for information is an additional ground for refusing registration. See In re Cheezwhse.com, Inc., 85 USPQ2d 1917, 1919 (TTAB 2008); In re DTI P’ship LLP, 67 USPQ2d 1699, 1701 (TTAB 2003); TMEP §814.

CLAIM OF OWNERSHIP OF PRIOR REGISTRATIONS

If applicant owns U.S. Registration Nos. 2128634 and 2132218, then applicant must submit for the application record a claim of ownership of these registrations. See 37 C.F.R. §2.36; TMEP §812. See the attached copies of the registrations. See TMEP §812.

Applicant may use the following format to claim ownership of these registrations:

“Applicant is the owner of U.S. Registration Nos. 2128634 and 2132218.”

IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES

The identification of goods and services is indefinite and must be clarified. “Handkerchiefs” are Class 24 goods, not Class 25 clothing. The word “sale” in the identification of services is indefinite and must be clarified. See TMEP §1402.01. To be a service, an activity must be primarily for the benefit of someone other than the applicant. See In re Reichhold Chems., Inc., 167 USPQ 376, 377 (TTAB 1970). “Sales” or “selling” is not a service rendered for the benefit of others. See TMEP §§1301.01(a)(ii), 1402.11. Therefore, applicant must delete “sale” and indicate with greater specificity the nature of the service, e.g., “retail store services featuring . . .” Applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate:

“Handkerchiefs,” in International Class 24.

“Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, trousers, dresses, cardigans, pullovers, skirts, sweaters, suits, jackets, coats, vests; headwear; footwear; underwear; scarves, gloves; socks; ties; belts,” in International Class 25.

“Retail store services featuring clothing, headgear, footwear, underwear, and textile goods; on-line retail trade services, provided by a computer network, featuring clothing, headgear, footwear, underwear, and textile goods; advertising and promotional services, on-line advertising on a computer network; providing of commercial information in the field of fashion,” in International Class 35.

Although identifications of goods or services may be amended to clarify or limit the goods or services, adding to or broadening the scope of the goods or services is not permitted. 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); see TMEP §§1402.06 et seq., 1402.07. Therefore, applicant may not amend the identification to include goods or services that are not within the scope of the goods set forth in the present identification.

For assistance with identifying and classifying goods 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.

MULTIPLE CLASS APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

For an application with more than one international class, called a “multiple-class application,” an applicant must meet all the requirements below for those international classes based on an intent to use the mark in commerce under Trademark Act Section 1(b):

(1) LIST GOODS AND/OR SERVICES BY INTERNATIONAL CLASS: Applicant must list the goods and/or services by international class.

(2) PROVIDE FEES FOR ALL INTERNATIONAL CLASSES: Applicant must submit an application filing fee for each international class of goods and/or services not covered by the fee(s) already paid (confirm current fee information at http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/tm_fee_info.jsp).

See 15 U.S.C. §§1051(b), 1112, 1126(e); 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(2)-(3), 2.86(a); TMEP §§1403.01, 1403.02(c).

QUESTIONS

If applicant has questions regarding this Office action, please telephone or e-mail the assigned trademark examining attorney. All relevant e-mail communications will be placed in the official application record; however, an e-mail communication will not be accepted as a response to this Office action and will not extend the deadline for filing a proper response. See 37 C.F.R. §2.191; TMEP §§304.01-.02, 709.04-.05. Further, although the trademark examining attorney may provide additional explanation pertaining to the requirements in this Office action, the trademark examining attorney may not provide legal advice or statements about applicant’s rights. See TMEP §§705.02, 709.06.

/John M. Gartner/

Trademark Examining Attorney

Law Office 102

(571) 272-9255

John.Gartner@uspto.gov (informal correspondence)

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.