To: | Clinique Laboratories, LLC (uspto@estee.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88176299 - CLINIQUE - N/A |
Sent: | July 06, 2020 09:08:50 AM |
Sent As: | ecom125@uspto.gov |
Attachments: | Attachment - 1 Attachment - 2 Attachment - 3 Attachment - 4 Attachment - 5 Attachment - 6 Attachment - 7 Attachment - 8 Attachment - 9 Attachment - 10 Attachment - 11 Attachment - 12 Attachment - 13 Attachment - 14 Attachment - 15 Attachment - 16 Attachment - 17 Attachment - 18 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88176299
Mark: CLINIQUE
|
|
Correspondence Address: |
|
Applicant: Clinique Laboratories, LLC
|
|
Reference/Docket No. N/A
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: July 06, 2020
This Office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on June 10, 2020.
In a previous Office action(s) dated December 10, 2019, the trademark examining attorney refused registration of the applied-for mark based on the following: failure to show the applied-for mark in use in commerce with any of the specified services.
The trademark examining attorney maintains and now makes FINAL the refusal in the summary of issues below. See 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b); TMEP §714.04.
SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE MADE FINAL that applicant must address:
Specifically, the specimen submitted by applicant only shows that applicant advertises its beauty care products on social media platforms. It does not show that applicant is providing any social networking services. In the response to Office Action applicant contends that the specimen shows the applied-for mark in connection with the services. However, applicant’s own response supports the examining attorney’s position. Specifically, applicant states that “Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms to date… Not only is Instagram used for social networking purposes, but the app is also heavily utilized by businesses for promoting, marketing and advertising their products and services.” As applicant indicates in its response, Instagram, a third party social media platform is providing social networking services and facilitating social interactions between users on its platform, while applicant uses the social media platform to advertise and promote its goods. Further the attached website printout from Wikipedia indicates that a social networking service is “an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.” As previously discussed, the specimen does not show that applicant is providing an online platform which people use to build social relationships. Rather, applicant uses third party social networking platforms to advertise its goods and to interact with users.
Examples of specimens. Specimens for services must show a direct association between the mark and the services and include: (1) copies of advertising and marketing material, (2) a photograph of business signage or billboards, or (3) materials showing the mark in the sale, rendering, or advertising of the services. See 37 C.F.R. §2.56(b)(2), (c); TMEP §1301.04(a), (h)(iv)(C). Any webpage printout or screenshot submitted as a specimen must include the webpage’s URL and the date it was accessed or printed. 37 C.F.R. §2.56(c).
Response option. Applicant may respond to this refusal by submitting, for each applicable international class, a different specimen (a verified “substitute” specimen) that (a) was in actual use in commerce prior to the expiration of the deadline for filing the statement of use and (b) shows the mark in actual use in commerce for the services identified in the statement of use. A “verified substitute specimen” is a specimen that is accompanied by the following statement made in a signed affidavit or supported by a declaration under 37 C.F.R. §2.20: “The substitute (or new, or originally submitted, if appropriate) specimen(s) was/were in use in commerce prior to expiration of the filing deadline for filing a statement of use.” The substitute specimen cannot be accepted without this statement.
Applicant may not withdraw the statement of use. See 37 C.F.R. §2.88(f); TMEP §1109.17.
For an overview of this response option and instructions on how to submit a different specimen using the online Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) form, see the Specimen webpage.
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).
Nicole Passman
/Nicole Passman/
Examining Attorney
Law Office 125
(571) 272-3244
nicole.passman@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE