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 APPLICANT’S COMPLETE RESPONSE TO THIS LETTER WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF THE ISSUE/MAILING DATE BELOW.  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.

 

 

ISSUE/MAILING DATE: 5/30/2019

 

 

THIS IS A FINAL ACTION.

 

 

This Office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on May 28, 2019.

 

The requirement for clarification of the identification of services is now made FINAL for the reasons set forth below.  37 C.F.R. §2.63(b).

 

Clarification of Identification and Classification of Services Required

 

The proposed amended wording “Providing a database that contains investigation results, namely, insurance claim investigations, regarding the loss, damage or theft of insured property for use by insurance companies” in International Class 36 is not acceptable because insurance investigation services are in International Class 45, not International Class 36.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.  Applicant must either add International Class 45 to the application and reclassify the services therein, or delete this wording from International Class 36.

 

The proposed amendment “Providing automated claims administration management, tracking, and monitoring of all stages of insurance claims handling” is not acceptable because it exceeds the scope of the identification in the application.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.32(a)(6), 2.71(a); TMEP §§805, 1402.06 et seq., 1402.07.  Applicant’s goods and/or services may be clarified or limited, but may not be expanded beyond those originally itemized in the application or as acceptably amended.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06.  Therefore, the original identification in the application, and any previously accepted amendments, remain operative for purposes of future amendment.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.07(d).

 

The application originally identified the services as “Providing automated claims administration management, tracking, and monitoring of all stages of insurance claims handling” and the proposed amendment could encompass services other than automated claim services.  Additionally the original wording is not acceptable and must be clarified to specify the type of financial and insurance provided.

 

The proposed amended wording “ Providing information in the field of insurance claims, namely, assessment of insurance claims appraisals of insurance claims, and adjustment of insurance claims” in International Class 36 is indefinite and must be amended to clarify the separate types of services being provided.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

The proposed amended wording “ Providing information on property damage and terrain, namely, financial appraisal of damages and information about risks causing damage to property and terrain, to assist in insurance claims administration and analysis, insurance and financial risk management and analysis, financial risk assessment, financial and investment analysis, and real estate valuation, and real estate risk management and analysis” in International Class 36 is too broad because it could include  risk information in other classes.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

The proposed amended wording “ Providing databases and information in the field of insurance, insurance services, insurance analytics, insurance claims, insurance management and analysis, namely, claims assessment, claims adjustment, actuarial information, insurance underwriting information, insurance claims loss history, asset valuation and loss history, insurance coverage verification, financial risk management and analysis, financial risk analytics, financial risk calculation, financial risk mitigation, financial risk forecasting, financial risk assessment, financial and investment analysis,” “ Providing databases and information in the field of claims assessment, claims adjustment, actuarial information, insurance claims loss history, asset valuation and loss history, insurance coverage verification, and real estate and real property appraisals, all to assist with insurance underwriting” and “Providing insurance ratings information, namely, data analyzing loss history and financial information used to evaluate insurance and financial risk” in International Class 36 is too broad because “history” could include information other classes.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

The proposed amended wording “Insurance rating services and information relative thereto, namely, benchmarking expected loss for risk assessment purposes,” “Providing vehicle history reports, namely, providing reports about vehicle repairs, damage, accidents and ownership for insurance risk evaluation purposes” and “ Providing information in the field of natural researches investment opportunities” in International Class 36 is not acceptable because these services were not originally services in Serial No. 87635021.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

The proposed amended wording “Consulting about managing insurance risk relating to catastrophes” in International Class 36 is not acceptable because the services in Serial No. 87635084 specified business information about catastrophes, not insurance risk.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.

 

A sample amended identification is set forth below, which applicant may adopt, if accurate to describe applicant’s goods and/or services.  Wording in italic type represents items in the identification that require clarification.  Bold italic type indicates changes to applicant’s original identification.  Strikethrough marking indicates wording that must be deleted.  Wording in [brackets] following a fill in the blank provides guidance and examples of acceptable amendments.  For example, if the original identification is “clothing,” and the suggestion is “clothing, namely, ____ [specify items in this class, e.g., shirts, pants and coats]”, applicant may amend the identification to “clothing, namely, shirts, pants and coats” in the response to the office action. 

 

International Class 36:  Providing information about property and casualty insurance and underwriting risks, risk assessment and evaluation, and risk management, for use by insurance companies in handling insurance claims and insurance investigations, about pending and historical insurance claims, and the adequacy of insurance coverage;  Providing insurance information relating to changes in automobile insurance policies;  Insurance rating services and information relative thereto, namely, benchmarking expected loss for financial risk assessment purposes, and computing and providing information about computation of insurance premium information;  Providing insurance appraisals and evaluations, namely, appraisals of personal and real property insurance claims, and repair cost appraisal;  Providing a database that contains investigation results, namely, insurance claim investigations, regarding the loss, damage or theft of insured property for use by insurance companies;  Providing real-time insurance claims processing reports to insurance carriers and restoration contractors via a secure online website;   Providing ___ [specify type of service in this class, e.g., insurance claims processing] featuring automated claims administration management, tracking, and monitoring of all stages of insurance claims handling for purposes of claims administration, claims investigation, and claims processing;  Insurance consulting in the nature of evaluating issued insurance policy information in conjunction with third party data libraries and proprietary databases and assessing rating factor errors in premium auditing to enhance actuarial analysis, and determining for others the accuracy and validity of insurance policyholders data used for the calculation of insurance policy premiums;  Performing insurance premium underwriting services for others for all types of insurance;  Providing reports for mortgage originators and lenders containing information in making decisions about loans;  Providing insurance information regarding the data of insurance policy transactions to comply with requirements to notify lien holders, secured parties, or mortgagees of changes in insurance coverage or policies;  Providing information in the field of insurance claims, namely, assessment of insurance claims, appraisals of insurance claims, and adjustment of insurance claims;  Providing information on property damage and terrain, namely, financial appraisal of damages and information about risks causing damage to property and terrain, to assist in insurance claims administration and analysis, insurance and financial risk management and analysis, financial risk assessment, financial and investment analysis, and real estate valuation, and real estate risk management and analysis;  Providing an interactive website featuring information and analysis namely, information in the fields of insurance, banking, and real estate;  Providing an interactive website featuring information and analysis namely, information in the fields of insurance and financial risk assessment, insurance and financial risk detection, insurance and financial risk analysis, and financial risk management;  Obtaining and providing information on facilities and structures in the field of energy, namely, financial appraisal information, to assist in investment analysis, real estate valuation, and real estate investment and analysis;  Providing databases and information in the field of insurance, insurance services, insurance analytics, insurance claims, insurance management and analysis, namely, claims assessment, claims adjustment, actuarial information, insurance underwriting information, ____ [specify type of insurance claim and asset valuation in the class, e.g., insurance claim appraisal history and asset valuation appraisal history] insurance claims  loss history, asset valuation and loss history, insurance coverage verification, financial risk management and analysis, financial risk analytics, financial risk calculation, financial risk mitigation, financial risk forecasting, financial risk assessment, financial and investment analysis;  Providing databases and information in the field of claims assessment, claims adjustment, actuarial information, ____ [specify type of insurance claim and asset valuation in the class, e.g., insurance claim appraisal history and asset valuation appraisal history] insurance claims  loss history, asset valuation and loss history, insurance coverage verification, and real estate and real property appraisals, all to assist with insurance underwriting;  Insurance underwriting information services;  Insurance analysis services, namely, assessing insurance claims, and analyzing insurance information for purposes of financial risk assessment;  Providing online databases using predictive modeling to allow insurance carriers and insurance underwriters to rate and underwrite insurance policies;  Providing information and analytics on financial risk relating to specific geographic regions, weather, climate and environmental events, other catastrophes, world events, and other loss events;  Providing insurance and financial risk analysis information and information for investors, manufacturers, insurance carriers, commodities traders, investors, and those in the supply chain, in the field of climate, environment, world events, and disaster risk management;  Providing financial risk and investment data regarding climate, environment, world events, and disasters for use in the insurance and financial fields;  Consulting and information in the field of insurance;  Providing information and analytics regarding property locations and characteristics, namely, insurance risks derived from property locations for purposes of insurance and financial risk assessment;  Providing insurance ratings information, namely, data analyzing loss history and financial information used to evaluate insurance and financial risk;  Consulting and advisory services in the fields of financial risk assessment, financial and investment analysis;  Financial consultancy and financial risk management;  Providing an online database that contains a glossary of technical terms in the field of insurance, covering loss, damage or theft of heavy construction equipment and that is offered via a global communications network for use by insurance companies;  Banking consultation;  Bankruptcy management, namely, debt management services and debt collection consulting and advisory services;  Providing and analyzing financial data, bankruptcy data, and data about debtors;  Financial portfolio valuation and analysis services;  Analysis of credit and financial risk;  Financial counseling services;  Insurance claims administration;  Insurance brokerage services;  services to insurance companies, intermediaries and sellers in the nature of assessment and management of medical insurance underwriting risk;  Services to insurance companies, intermediaries and sellers in the nature of claims adjustments on insurance products;  Creation and administration of trusts providing healthcare benefits;  Providing information and databases in the fields of merchant risk assessment and merchant compliance with customer, industry and/or regulatory obligations, all used to evaluate insurance and financial risk;  Providing information about vehicle insurance and underwriting risks, risk assessment and evaluation, and risk management;  Providing information about vehicles, namely, information about damage and repair appraisal and repair cost, for insurance and financial purposes;  Providing vehicle history reports, namely, providing reports about damage and repair appraisal insurance risk evaluation purposes;  Providing information on and analysis of fire protection efforts, namely, insurance and financial risk associated with fire ratings of local communities, to assist in underwriting of insurance and financial services products;  Providing ratings information relating to fire protection efforts, namely, insurance risk assessment information used to evaluate insurance and financial risk;  Providing information on and analysis of wildfires and risk associated with wildfires namely, insurance risk information, and ratings information relating to wildfires namely, insurance risk assessment information, used to evaluate risk, all of the foregoing used to evaluate insurance and financial risk;  Consulting and advisory services in the field of insurance;  Providing information in the field of insurance claims risk management, namely, information on weather and natural hazards;  Insurance risk assessment relating to the effects of weather and natural hazards;  Providing insurance and financial risk analysis information relating to energy service interruption;  providing information in the field of financial risk analysis associated with energy service interruption via the internet;  Providing information in the field of insurance, namely, risk analysis information on weather and other perils;  Providing on-line computer databases featuring risk analysis information about perils in the nature of financial loss events;  Providing information over a global computer network in the field of financial risk analysis information about weather and other perils;  Providing insurance underwriting and insurance rating data, namely, insurance and financial risk rating data for insurance use, via an online database available on the internet;  Compilation and analysis of data for financial purposes to assist in financial risk assessment, and financial and investment analysis;  Providing insurance and financial risk information, namely, information related to weather events and other catastrophes in the nature of information about the effects and potential effects of such events on premiums, and estimates of insured loss and actual insured loss resulting from catastrophic events, to assist in insurance claims management and analysis, financial risk management and analysis, financial risk assessment, and financial and investment analysis;  Providing on-line databases featuring insurance and financial risk information, namely, information related to weather-related events and other catastrophes in the nature of information about the effects and potential effects of such events on premiums, and estimates of insured loss and actual insured loss resulting from catastrophic events, all for assessing insurance and financial risk;  Providing insurance to value portfolio analysis;  Providing estimates of the costs of building repair, namely, repair cost evaluation;  Compilation and analysis of financial data in the fields of energy and natural resources, agriculture, mining, transportation, supply chain logistics, engineering, weather, environment and climate, cartography, insurance, banking, finance, construction, real estate, law enforcement, emergency services, government, real estate, and geopolitics, all for financial analysis;; Compiling and analyzing data for financial analysis purposes;  Compilation and analysis of ratings information, namely, insurance risk assessment in the field of wildfires, used to evaluate risk;  Providing risk analysis ratings information, namely, insurance risk assessment, to the insurance industry relating to wildfires used to evaluate risk;  Providing online databases and information about energy, namely, insurance risk management and analysis, insurance risk analysis, and energy investment opportunity evaluations;  Providing consulting and advisory services in the field of energy, namely, insurance risk management and analysis, insurance risk analysis, and energy investment opportunity evaluations;  Obtaining information, and providing information and analysis, namely, insurance claims assessment information and analysis and repair cost evaluation information and analysis for building structures, roofs, other features of building structures, structural material and contents of buildings and land and conditions in the nature of damage and need for repair or replacement, to assist in insurance claims management and analysis;  Providing electronic notifications with information on bankruptcy matters, namely, provision of financial notifications in the field of bankruptcy via email alerts;  Consulting and services related thereto in the nature of consultation in the fields of insurance and real estate;  Providing online websites in the field of insurance, namely, insurance and financial risk management and analysis, insurance and financial risk analytics, insurance and financial risk calculation, insurance and financial risk mitigation, insurance and financial risk forecasting, insurance and financial risk assessment and insurance and financial and investment analysis;  Providing on-line information in the field of property and casualty insurance loss, namely, claims auditing;  Providing on-line information in the field of real estate appraisal and valuation for use as an automated valuation model for real estate property assessment and creation of real property valuation reports for others; Providing on-line information in the field of claims administration for managing workers compensation claims; Providing on-line information, namely, providing online financial calculators for use in executing residential insurance and valuation calculations;  Providing on-line information in the field of personal and real estate appraisals and repair cost evaluation to receive, track, document and manage insurance claims, property valuations, repair estimates and property replacement costs;  Providing on-line information in the fields of insurance, insurance claims processing and administration used in insurance claims handling and that allows for collaboration among insurance underwriters, insurance claims personnel and insurance policyholders;  Providing on-line information in the field of repair cost evaluation for cost estimating in the building, construction, repair, restoration, maintenance and remodeling industries;  Providing on-line information in the field of insurance and financial risk assessment, insurance and financial risk analysis and insurance and financial risk management;  Providing on-line information in the field of insurance claims assessment;  Providing information about insurance and prospective insureds and reports relating to insurance, namely, information about insurance claims assessment, claims adjustment, actuarial information, insurance underwriting information, insurance claims history information, asset valuation and history, and insurance coverage verification;  Providing estimates of the costs of building repair, restoration, and reconstruction, namely, providing replacement cost valuation 87635021;  Consulting services in the field of energy, namely, consulting about energy investment opportunity evaluations;  Providing online databases, information and analysis in the field of energy, namely, insurance risk analysis and energy investment opportunity evaluations, all the aforesaid services relating to the energy, chemicals, metals, mining and commodities industries; Providing information and online databases in the field of insurance, namely, insurance risk assessment and insurance claims  appraisals for real property; Insurance rating services and information relative thereto, namely, benchmarking expected loss for risk assessment purposes; Providing vehicle history reports, namely, providing reports about vehicle repairs, damage, accidents and ownership for insurance risk evaluation purposes; Providing on-line information in the field of replacement cost valuation for cost estimating and other assessments in the building, construction, repair, restoration, maintenance and remodeling industries; Providing an interactive website featuring information about natural resources investment opportunities; Providing information in the field of natural researches investment opportunities;  Providing information about insurance and potential insured, namely, assessment of insurance claims; Consulting about managing insurance risk relating to catastrophes

 

International Class 45:   Providing a database that contains investigation results, namely, insurance claim investigations, regarding the loss, damage or theft of insured property for use by insurance companies

 

Applicant may amend the identification to clarify or limit the goods and/or services, but not to broaden or expand the goods and/or services 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 and/or services may not later be reinserted.  See TMEP §1402.07(e).

 

Applicant should consult the USPTO’s online searchable U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual for assistance with identifying and classifying goods and services in trademark applications.  See TMEP §1402.04.

 

Multiple Class Applications

 

The application identifies goods and/or services in more than one international class; therefore, applicant must satisfy all the requirements below for each international class based on Trademark Act Sections 1(b) and/or 44:

 

(1)       List the goods and/or services by their international class number in consecutive numerical order, starting with the lowest numbered class.

 

(2)       Submit a filing fee for each international class not covered by the fee(s) already paid (view the USPTO’s current fee schedule).  The application identifies goods and/or services that are classified in at least two classes; however, applicant submitted a fee(s) sufficient for only one class(es).  Applicant must either submit the filing fees for the classes not covered by the submitted fees or restrict the application to the number of classes covered by the fees already paid.

 

See 15 U.S.C. §§1051(b), 1112, 1126(e); 37 C.F.R. §§2.32(a)(6)-(7), 2.34(a)(2)-(3), 2.86(a); TMEP §§1403.01, 1403.02(c).

 

See an overview of the requirements for a Sections 1(b) and/or 44 multiple-class application and how to satisfy the requirements online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) form.

 

Advisory re Claim of Cancelled Registration

 

Applicant’s claim of ownership of U.S. Registration No. 4218388 will not be printed on any registration which may issue from this application because Office records show that the claimed registration is cancelled.  Only claims of ownership of active registrations are printed.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.36; TMEP §812.

 

Final Action Response Guidelines

 

Applicant must respond within six months of the date of issuance of this final Office action or the application will be abandoned.  15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a).  Applicant may respond by providing one or both of the following:

 

(1)       a response filed using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) that fully satisfies all outstanding requirements and/or resolves all outstanding refusals; and/or

 

(2)       an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board filed using the Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA) with the required filing fee of $200 per class.

 

37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(1)-(2); TMEP §714.04; see 37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(18); TBMP ch. 1200.

 

In certain rare circumstances, an applicant may respond by filing a petition to the Director pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(2) to review procedural issues.  TMEP §714.04; see 37 C.F.R. §2.146(b); TBMP §1201.05; TMEP §1704 (explaining petitionable matters).  There is a fee required for filing a petition.  37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(15).

 

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.  

 

Applicant may call or email the assigned trademark examining attorney with questions about this Office action.  Although the trademark examining attorney cannot provide legal advice or statements about applicant’s rights, the trademark examining attorney can provide applicant with additional explanation about the refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) in this Office action.  See TMEP §§705.02, 709.06.  Although the USPTO does not accept emails as responses to Office actions, emails can be used for informal communications and will be included in the application record.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(c), 2.191; TMEP §§304.01-.02, 709.04-.05. 

 

 

April Roach

/April Roach/

Trademark Examining Attorney

Law Office 115

(571) 272-1092

april.roach@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 5/30/2019 FOR U.S. APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 87635040

 

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 5/30/2019 (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.