Offc Action Outgoing

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

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

 

 

 

NOTICE:  APPLICATION ABANDONED

 

ISSUE/MAILING DATE: 2/12/2018

 

 

The above-referenced application is abandoned because applicant failed to file a complete response to the final Office action dated August, 9, 2017.  See 15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); TMEP §§718.02, 718.03, 718.03(b).  That is, applicant’s January 31, 2018, response was not legally sufficient for the reasons specified below.

 

Applicant’s response is incomplete because it failed to resolve all outstanding issues in the final Office action, it did not raise a new issue or provide any new or compelling evidence with regard to the outstanding issues, and applicant’s analysis and arguments were not persuasive nor did they shed new light on the issues.  In addition, the USPTO has not received a timely filed notice of appeal and there is no time remaining in the response period.

 

The applicant is correct that the amendments to the identification obviate the information requirement made final in the Final Office action.  However, the amendments to the identification still include, indefinite, overbroad wording, and wording that exceeds the scope of the original identification.  Therefore, the Final identification requirement is maintained and continued.

 

As stated in the Final Office action, all of the goods in Class 1 are definite and properly classified.  Additionally, the following goods in Classes 7 and 11 are definite and properly classified.

 

Agricultural and horticultural machines, namely, combines, harvesters, threshers, tillers, windrowers, that also include control systems for artificial light sources, air conditionings and fertilization; Cultivating machines and implements, namely, power-operated cultivators; Cultivating machines and implements, other than hand-operated implements; Agricultural and horticultural seed planting machine; Seedling rearing machines, namely, seeding and transplanting machines, that also include control systems for artificial light sources, air conditionings and fertilization; Seedling rearing machines, namely, seeding and transplanting machines, that also include control systems for water supply, fertilization and agrochemicals treatment; Agricultural and horticultural machinery and attachments, namely, fertilizer spreaders; Fertilizer distributing machines, other than hand-operated implements; Cultivating machines that also include control systems for artificial light sources, air conditionings and fertilization; Cultivating machines that also include control systems for water supply, fertilization and agrochemicals treatment; harvest drying machines, in Class 7.

 

Drying apparatus for agricultural processing; Air-conditioning apparatus; Water purification machines; Wastewater purification apparatus, installations and tanks; Plumbing fittings, namely, cocks; Watering machines for agricultural and horticulture purposes; Agricultural and horticulture irrigation units; Water distillation units for agriculture and horticulture purposes; Irrigation sprinklers for agriculture and horticulture purposes; Regulating accessories for water supply, namely, metered valves; Forage drying apparatus; Fertigation and chemigation systems, namely, agricultural and horticultural watering machines that also distribute fertilizers and agrochemicals, and that also include control systems for water supply, fertilization and agrochemicals treatment, in Class 11.

 

The wording “Agricultural and horticultural machinery and attachments for fertilization and agrochemicals treatment used in greenhouses; Agricultural and horticultural machinery for supplying fertilizers and agricultural chemicals” is indefinite because it does not specify the machinery by common commercial name.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01. Additionally, the term “attachments” appears to exceed the scope of the original identification because the only attachments referenced in that identification were limited to fertilization spreaders.  37 C.F.R. §§2.32(a)(6), 2.71(a); TMEP §§805, 1402.06 et seq., 1402.07.  These goods may also include goods in Class 9, such as “Water treatment equipment, namely, devices connected to a water distribution line, which automatically injects a predetermined proportion of fertilizer into an irrigation system used by a greenhouse complex.”  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §§1402.01, 1402.03.    

 

The wording “Agricultural and horticultural machinery and attachments for fertilization and agrochemicals treatment connected with an irrigation system; Agricultural and horticultural machinery and attachments which automatically inject a predetermined proportion of fertilizer and agrochemicals; Agricultural and horticultural machinery and attachments used in greenhouses, which automatically inject a predetermined proportion of fertilizers and agrochemicals” is indefinite and too broad because it does not identify the machinery by common commercial name, and it could include goods for irrigation that are classified in Class 11, as well as automatically controlled devices in Class 9, such as “Water treatment equipment, namely, devices connected to a water distribution line, which automatically injects a predetermined proportion of fertilizer into an irrigation system used by a greenhouse complex.”  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §§1402.01, 1402.03. 

 

The wording “Water treatment equipment, namely, pumps, gages, valves, regulators or filters used in irrigation systems” is indefinite because it includes the term “or.” Additionally, because this equipment is not limited to goods sold together as a unit, the wording is broad enough to include gages and valves in other classes.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §§1402.01, 1402.03. 

 

The wording “Agricultural and horticultural watering machines, namely, sprinklers or drip irrigation systems and equipment composed of valves, filters pumps, gages or regulators, that also include control systems for water supply, fertilization and agrochemicals treatment” is indefinite because it includes several instances of the term “or.”  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

Although some of the applicant’s goods are definite and properly classified, partial abandonment is not appropriate in this case.  See TMEP 718.02(a), 1402.13.  Specifically, the Final Office action included an advisory stating that amendment to the identification could require the payment of additional fees because the fee paid is insufficient to cover all the classes in the suggested amendment to the identification, and as discussed above, the identification still includes wording that is broad enough to include goods in additional classes.  See id.

 

Applicant may respond by filing a petition to the Director to request a reversal of the decision to abandon the application.  TMEP §§715.03(a)(ii)(D), 718.03(b), 1713.01-.02; see 37 C.F.R. §2.146(a)(3).  The petition must be filed within two months of the date of issuance of this letter and may be filed online at http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/petition_forms.jsp.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.146(d); TMEP §1705.04.

 

 

 

 

/Kim Teresa Moninghoff/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 113

Phone:  571-272-4738

Fax: 571-273-9113

Email:  kim.moninghoff@uspto.gov

 

 

 

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR

U.S. TRADEMARK APPLICATION

 

USPTO OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) HAS ISSUED

ON 2/12/2018 FOR U.S. APPLICATION SERIAL NO.87189707

 

Please follow the instructions below:

 

(1)  TO READ THE LETTER:  Click on this link or go to http://tsdr.gov.uspto.report/, 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)  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

 

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.