To: | QWERTY INTERNATIONAL LTD. (jm@moas.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 87461247 - QWERTY - 10485/2018 |
Sent: | September 08, 2021 03:45:04 PM |
Sent As: | ecom111@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 87461247
Mark: QWERTY
|
|
Correspondence Address:
|
|
Applicant: QWERTY INTERNATIONAL LTD.
|
|
Reference/Docket No. 10485/2018
Correspondence Email Address: |
|
FINAL OFFICE ACTION
The USPTO must receive applicant’s response to this letter within six months of the issue date below or the application will be abandoned. Respond using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and/or Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA). A link to the appropriate TEAS response form and/or to ESTTA for an appeal appears at the end of this Office action.
Issue date: September 08, 2021
This Office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on July 19, 2021.
In a previous Office action(s) dated November 5, 2020, the trademark examining attorney maintained the refusal of registration of the applied-for mark based on the following: Trademark Act Section 2(d) for a likelihood of confusion with a registered mark.
Based on applicant’s response, the trademark examining attorney notes that the following requirement(s) have been satisfied: applicant’s foreign certificate of registration is accepted and entered into the record. See TMEP §§713.02, 714.04.
Further, the trademark examining attorney maintains and now makes FINAL the refusal and/or requirement(s) in the summary of issues below. See 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b); TMEP §714.04.
SUMMARY OF ISSUES MADE FINAL that applicant must address:
The examining attorney refused registration of applicant’s proposed mark QWERTY because of a likelihood of confusion with the mark QWERT in U.S. Registration No. 5506152. Applicant contends the marks in question are sufficiently different that confusion is not likely. The examining attorney must respectfully disagree. The marks in question are virtually identical in appearance, meaning and spelling with the sole difference being the cited registration does not include the letter “y” as the last letter in the mark. The applicant indicates QWERTY means or comes from the top left row 6 letters of the computer keyboard but the cited registrant’s mark QWERT comes from the identical top left letters of the computer keyboard without the letter “y.” The meaning and intent of both marks is virtually identical.
Finally, where the goods and/or services of an applicant and registrant are identical or virtually identical, as is the case herein, the degree of similarity between the marks required to support a finding that confusion is likely declines. See Cai v. Diamond Hong, Inc., 901 F.3d 1367, 1373, 127 USPQ2d 1797, 1801 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (quoting In re Viterra Inc., 671 F.3d 1358, 1363, 101 USPQ2d 1905, 1908 (Fed. Cir. 2012)); TMEP §1207.01(b).
Therefore, for the foregoing reasons, the refusal to register is maintained and made FINAL. Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d); see TMEP §§1207.01 et seq.
Please call or email the assigned trademark examining attorney with questions about this Office action. Although an examining attorney cannot provide legal advice, the examining attorney can provide additional explanation about the refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) in this Office action. See TMEP §§705.02, 709.06.
The USPTO does not accept emails as responses to Office actions; however, emails can be used for informal communications and are included in the application record. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(c), 2.191; TMEP §§304.01-.02, 709.04-.05.
How to respond. Click to file a request for reconsideration of this final Office action that fully resolves all outstanding requirements and refusals and/or click to file a timely appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) with the required filing fee(s).
/Mark T. Mullen/
Trademark Attorney
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Law Office 111
(571) 272-9201
mark.mullen@uspto.gov (informal inquiries only)
RESPONSE GUIDANCE