To: | TruFlex Sanders, LLC (wbm@wbmillslaw.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88176738 - HYPERFLEX - N/A |
Sent: | December 31, 2019 01:10:39 PM |
Sent As: | ecom122@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88176738
Mark: HYPERFLEX
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Correspondence Address: |
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Applicant: TruFlex Sanders, LLC
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Reference/Docket No. N/A
Correspondence Email Address: |
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NONFINAL 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). A link to the appropriate TEAS response form appears at the end of this Office action.
This Office action is supplemental to and supersedes the previous Office action issued on September 11, 2019, in connection with this application. Based on information and/or documentation in applicant’s response, the trademark examining attorney now issues the following new identification requirement and fee requirement. See TMEP §§706, 711.02.
In a previous Office action dated September 11, 2019, the trademark examining attorney issued a specimen refusal for failing to show use of the applied-for mark in commerce with the actually identified goods. Due to applicant’s identification amendments being unacceptable, the specimen refusal is continued and maintained at this time.
Applicant must respond to all issues raised in this Office action and the previous September 11, 2019 Office action within six (6) months of the date of issuance of this Office action. 37 C.F.R. §2.62(a); see TMEP §711.02. If applicant does not respond within this time limit, the application will be abandoned. 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a).
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
· Identification of Goods
· Added Class—Additional Fees Required
IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS:
In this case, the application originally identified the goods as flexible abrasives in Class 003.
However, the proposed amendment adds Class 008 and identifies hand tools—here being hand-operated sanders and hand-operated flexible sanders.
This proposed amendment is beyond the scope of the original identification because hand-operated sanders are separate and distinct goods from applicant’s identified abrasives. Compare, e.g., Trademark ID Manual, Term ID 008-768, with Trademark ID Manual, Term ID 003-919.
Scope Advisory
ADDED CLASS: ADDITIONAL FEES REQUIRED:
Note: The following requirement does not obviate the above identification scope issue. If applicant deletes the added out-of-scope Class 008 goods, this requirement no longer applies.
The communication filed on November 30, 2019 added a class and submitted no additional fees. However, the fees submitted with the original application are sufficient for only one class. In a multiple-class application, a fee for each class is required. 37 C.F.R. §2.86(a)(2); TMEP §§810.01, 1403.01.
Therefore, applicant must either (1) restrict the application to the number of class(es) covered by the fee(s) already paid, or (2) submit the fees for the additional class(es).
The fee for adding classes to a TEAS Reduced Fee (RF) application is $275 per class. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.6(a)(1)(iii), 2.23(a). See more information regarding the requirements for maintaining the lower TEAS RF fee and, if these requirements are not satisfied, for adding classes at a higher fee using regular TEAS.
GENERAL RESPONSE GUIDELINES
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.
How to respond. Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action.
Sjogren, Jeffrey
/Jeffrey Sjogren/
Examining Attorney - Law Office 122
jeffrey.sjogren@uspto.gov
Phone: 571-272-5279
Fax: 571-273-5578
RESPONSE GUIDANCE