Offc Action Outgoing

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

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

 

 

 

OFFICE ACTION

 

STRICT DEADLINE TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER:  To avoid abandonment of applicant’s trademark application, the USPTO must receive a complete response within (1) thirty (30) days of the date of issuance of this letter, or (2) the time remaining in the six-month period for responding to the previous Office action, whichever is longer.

 

EXAMINER’S ACTION CONTINUING A FINAL REQUIREMENT

 

The refusal under Trademark Act Section 2(d) has been withdrawn.

 

The problem with applicant’s response:  A final Office action issued for this application on July 16, 2018.  Applicant’s filed a Request for Reconsideration and Notice of Appeal on January 16, 2019 via the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).  The following requirement remains:

 

Identification of Goods

 

To be complete, an applicant must attempt to resolve all the issues raised in an outstanding Office action.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); TMEP §718.03.

 

Identification of Goods

 

The wording “trays and containers” in the identification of goods is indefinite and must be clarified because it does not specify the purpose of the trays and containers.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.  Applicant must amend this wording to specify the common commercial or generic name of the goods.  See TMEP §1402.01.  If the goods have no common commercial or generic name, applicant must describe the product, its main purpose, and its intended uses.  See id.

 

Applicant may amend the identification to clarify or limit the goods, but not to broaden or expand the goods beyond those in the original application or as acceptably amended.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06.  Generally, any deleted goods may not later be reinserted.  See TMEP §1402.07(e).

 

For assistance with identifying and classifying goods and services in trademark applications, please see the USPTO’s online searchable U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual.  See TMEP §1402.04.

 

The identification of goods should be amended to read as follows, if accurate:

 

Cookware, namely, broilers and roasters; non-electric cookware namely, steamers, roasting pans, pots and pans, waffle irons; cooking pots, pans and dishes; cooking pot sets; non-electric cooking utensils, namely, grills, grill covers, griddles, basting spoons, wire baskets; Dutch ovens; non-electric autoclaves for cooking, non-electric pressure cookers; non-electric slow cookers; non- electric stockpots; non-electric deep fryers; non-electric woks; frying pans; griddles, non-electric cooking utensils; grills, cooking utensils; thermally insulated containers for food; bakeware; baked good tins sold empty for domestic use, dishes, trays and containers for household purposes; baking utensils, namely, baking dishes, baking mats, silicone cupcake and muffin baking liners, hand-operated flour sifters for household use, cooking strainers, spatulas for kitchen use, whisks, cupcake molds; drinking glasses; glass tumblers; glass mugs; glass cups; glass tea cups and saucers; glass tea sets; glass bowls; glass plates; glass dishes; glass jars for household use; glass jugs; glass flasks; glass decanters; glass stemware; wine glasses; glass containers for household use; glass pots; tempered glass, not for building in International Class 21.

 

What applicant must do to fix the problem:  To avoid abandonment of the application, applicant must submit a complete response resolving all the issues raised in the previous outstanding final Office action within (1) the time remaining in the six-month period for response to the previous Office action, or (2) thirty days from the date of issuance of this letter, whichever is longer.  37 C.F.R. §2.65(a)(2); TMEP §§715.03(a)(ii)(E), 718.03(b).  This letter does not serve to extend the time for filing a notice of appeal, which runs from the issuance date of the final Office action.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.63(b)(3), 2.142(a); TMEP §715.03(a)(ii)(E), (c).

 

The outstanding final Office action can be viewed online in the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system:

 

(1)        Go to the TSDR database.

 

(2)        Select “US Serial, Registration, or Reference No.” from the drop-down menu box and enter the serial number of this application.

 

(3)        Click on “Documents” to view the list of documents filed and/or issued in this application.

 

(4)        Click on the document titled “Offc Action Outgoing” with a “Create/Mail Date” of July 16, 2018 to view the Office action.

 

(5)        Click on the “Download PDF” button in the top right corner of the screen to download or print the Office action.

 

If applicant is unable to view the Office action after following the above instructions, please e-mail TSDR@uspto.gov for further assistance.

 

If a response to this letter is filed via TEAS, applicant should review the resulting e-mail acknowledgement to ensure that the data entered by applicant in the response form appears in the e-mail.  If any data is missing from the e-mail acknowledgement, the USPTO has not received that data and the response may not be complete.  If this occurs, applicant should immediately resubmit a response that includes the data if time remains to respond.  If applicant has technical questions about the TEAS response to Office action form, applicant can review the electronic filing tips available online and e-mail technical questions to TEAS@uspto.gov.

 

What happens if the USPTO does not receive a properly signed response within the specified time period:  If applicant does not properly respond within the specified time period, this application will be abandoned because applicant filed an incomplete response.  37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); TMEP §§715.03(a)(ii)(E), 718.03.  In such case, applicant may file a petition to the Director to request a reversal of the decision to abandon the application.  TMEP §§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 the notice of abandonment and may be filed online through TEAS with a $100 fee.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(15)(ii), 2.146(d); TMEP §§1705.04, 1714.01(a).

 

Response

 

Applicant is encouraged to call or email the assigned attorney below to resolve the issues in this Office action.

 

TEAS PLUS OR TEAS REDUCED FEE (TEAS RF) APPLICANTS – TO MAINTAIN LOWER FEE, ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET, INCLUDING SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS ONLINE:  Applicants who filed their application online using the lower-fee TEAS Plus or TEAS RF application form must (1) file certain documents online using TEAS, including responses to Office actions (see TMEP §§819.02(b), 820.02(b) for a complete list of these documents); (2) maintain a valid e-mail correspondence address; and (3) agree to receive correspondence from the USPTO by e-mail throughout the prosecution of the application.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.22(b), 2.23(b); TMEP §§819, 820.  TEAS Plus or TEAS RF applicants who do not meet these requirements must submit an additional processing fee of $125 per class of goods and/or services.  37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(1)(v), 2.22(c), 2.23(c); TMEP §§819.04, 820.04.  However, in certain situations, TEAS Plus or TEAS RF applicants may respond to an Office action by authorizing an examiner’s amendment by telephone or e-mail without incurring this additional fee.  

 

 

 

/Charles L. Jenkins, Jr./

Charles L. Jenkins, Jr.

Trademark Attorney

Law Office 112

571-272-9305

charles.jenkins@uspto.gov

 

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 the Trademark Electronic Application System (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 the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system at http://tsdr.gov.uspto.report/.  Please keep a copy of the TSDR status screen.  If the status shows no change for more than six months, contact the Trademark Assistance Center by e-mail at TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov or 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/trademarks/teas/correspondence.jsp.

 

 

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR

U.S. TRADEMARK APPLICATION

 

USPTO OFFICE ACTION (OFFICIAL LETTER) HAS ISSUED

ON 2/11/2019 FOR U.S. APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 87605407

 

Please follow the instructions below:

 

(1)  TO READ THE LETTER:  Click on this link or go to http://tsdr.uspto.gov,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)  TIMELY RESPONSE IS REQUIRED:  Please carefully review the Office action to determine (1) how to respond, and (2) the applicable response time period.  Your response deadline will be calculated from 2/11/2019 (or sooner if specified in the Office action).  A response transmitted through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) must be received before midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response period.  For information regarding response time periods, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/process/status/responsetime.jsp.

 

Do NOT hit “Reply” to this e-mail notification, or otherwise e-mail your response because the USPTO does NOT accept e-mails as responses to Office actions.  Instead, the USPTO recommends that you respond online using the TEAS response form located at http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/teas/response_forms.jsp.

 

(3)  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

 

Failure to file the required response by the applicable response deadline will result in the ABANDONMENT of your application.  For more information regarding abandonment, see http://www.gov.uspto.report/trademarks/basics/abandon.jsp.

 

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.