UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (USPTO)

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

 

 

 

PRIORITY 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: 4/15/2019

 

DATABASE SEARCH:  The trademark examining attorney has searched the USPTO’s database of registered and pending marks and has found no conflicting marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d).  TMEP §704.02; see 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).

 

ISSUES APPLICANT MUST ADDRESS:  On April 8, 2019, the trademark examining attorney and attorney Dyan M. House discussed the issues below.  Applicant must timely respond to these issues.  See 15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §2.62(a); TMEP §§708, 711.

 

IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS

The following wordings in the identification of goods are indefinite and must be clarified because as written they are vague, overbroad and/or confusing: “frozen, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables, instant, de-hydrated and frozen soups”; “tomatoes pastes”; “vegetable purees including tomato puree, vegetable pastes including tomato paste and herb pastes”; “chilled and frozen ready meals”; “soup garnishing, namely, croutons, crackers, processed herbs and combinations thereof”; “vanilla flavorings for food and beverages and seasonings including those in de-hydrated powder and paste formats”; “chilled and frozen ready meals consisting primarily of processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles”; “instant snack foods made from cereals and/or flour”; “ready-to-cook foods made from cereals and/or flour”; and “ready-cooked meals and instant meals made predominantly from cereals, rice, pasta or noodles.”  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.  Applicant must amend these wordings to specify the common commercial or generic names of the goods.  See TMEP §1402.01.  If the goods have no common commercial or generic names, applicant must describe the products, their main purpose, and their intended uses.  See id.

 

Applicant must correct the punctuation in the identification to clarify the individual items in the list of goods and/or services.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01(a).  Proper punctuation in identifications is necessary to delineate explicitly each product or service within a list and to avoid ambiguity.  Commas, semicolons, and apostrophes are the only punctuation that should be used in an identification of goods and/or services.  TMEP §1402.01(a).  An applicant should not use colons, periods, exclamation points, and question marks in an identification.  Id.  In addition, applicants should not use symbols in the identification such as asterisks (*), at symbols (@), or carets.  Id.

 

In general, commas should be used in an identification (1) to separate a series of related items identified within a particular category of goods or services, (2) before and after “namely,” and (3) between each item in a list of goods or services following “namely” (e.g., personal care products, namely, body lotion, bar soap, shampoo).  Id.  Semicolons generally should be used to separate a series of distinct categories of goods or services within an international class (e.g., personal care products, namely, body lotion; deodorizers for pets; glass cleaners).  Id. 

 

Applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate: 

 

Class 29:

Meat extracts; meat preserves; vegetable preserves; soups and bouillons including paste bouillons and granulated bouillons; frozen, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables; instant, de-hydrated and frozen soups; stock including stock cubes; tomato pastes and vegetable granules for use in prepared food; vegetable purees and tomato puree, vegetable pastes, tomato paste and vegetable pastes featuring herbs; pickles; snack meals and instant snack food, namely, packaged meal kits consisting principally of meat, poultry, vegetables, processed seafood and/or eggs; prepared ready-to-eat foods made from meat, poultry, vegetables, processed seafood and/or eggs; cooked and preserved alimentary products consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables; chilled and frozen, ready-to-eat meals consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables; ready-to-eat meals and packaged instant meals consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables

 

Class 30:

Ham glazes; soup garnishing, namely, croutons, crackers, processed herbs and combinations thereof; vanilla flavorings for food and beverages; seasonings, seasoning mixes, dehydrated seasonings, seasoning pastes; marinades; curry pastes; gravy mixes; taco shells; tortillas and noodles; rice; pasta, filled pasta; crackers; poppadoms; sauces including those in frozen, wet and dry formats; dehydrated sauces mixes; chilled, frozen and ready-to-eat meals consisting primarily of processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles; snack meals and instant snack foods consisting primarily of processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles; instant snack foods made from processed cereals and flour; ready-to-use mixtures for the preparation of dishes and sauces, namely, curry spice mixture; ready-to-cook foods made from processed cereals and flour; ready-to-cook foods consisting principally of rice, pasta or noodles; rice dishes and potato dishes, namely, prepared meals consisting primarily of rice; dried, cooked and preserved alimentary products, namely, processed cereals, flour, rice, pasta, noodles, and alimentary pastes; ready-cooked meals and instant meals made predominantly from processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles

 

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.  Applicant may clarify or limit the identification by inserting qualifying language or deleting items to result in a more specific identification; however, applicant may not substitute different goods and/or services or add goods and/or services not found or encompassed by those in the original application or as acceptably amended.  See TMEP §1402.06(a)-(b).  The scope of the goods and/or services sets the outer limit for any changes to the identification and is generally determined by the ordinary meaning of the wording in the identification.  TMEP §§1402.06(b), 1402.07(a)-(b).  Any acceptable changes to the goods and/or services will further limit scope, and once goods and/or services are deleted, they are not permitted to be reinserted.  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.

 

THIS PARTIAL REQUIREMENT APPLIES ONLY TO THE GOODS SPECIFIED THEREIN

If applicant does not respond to this Office action within the six-month period for response, the following goods will be deleted from the application: “frozen, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables, instant, de-hydrated and frozen soups”; “tomatoes pastes”; “vegetable purees including tomato puree, vegetable pastes including tomato paste and herb pastes”; “chilled and frozen ready meals”; “soup garnishing, namely, croutons, crackers, processed herbs and combinations thereof”; “vanilla flavorings for food and beverages and seasonings including those in de-hydrated powder and paste formats”; “chilled and frozen ready meals consisting primarily of processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles”; “instant snack foods made from cereals and/or flour”; “ready-to-cook foods made from cereals and/or flour”; and “ready-cooked meals and instant meals made predominantly from cereals, rice, pasta or noodles.”  The application will then proceed with the following goods only: 

 

Class 29:

Meat extracts; meat preserves; vegetable preserves; soups and bouillons including paste bouillons and granulated bouillons; stock including stock cubes; vegetable granules for use in prepared food; pickles; snack meals and instant snack food, namely, packaged meal kits consisting principally of meat, poultry, vegetables, processed seafood and/or eggs; prepared ready-to-eat foods made from meat, poultry, vegetables, processed seafood and/or eggs; cooked and preserved alimentary products consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables; ready-to-eat meals and packaged instant meals consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables

 

Class 30:

Ham glazes; soup garnishing, namely, croutons, crackers, processed herbs and combinations thereof; marinades; curry pastes; gravy mix; taco shells; tortillas and noodles; rice; pasta, filled pasta; crackers; poppadoms; sauces including those in frozen, wet and dry formats; de-hydrated sauces mixes; snack meals and instant snack foods consisting primarily of processed cereals, rice, pasta or noodles; ready-to-use mixtures for the preparation of dishes and sauces, namely, curry spice mixture; ready-to-cook foods consisting principally of rice, pasta or noodles; rice dishes and potato dishes, namely, prepared meals consisting primarily of rice; dried, cooked and preserved alimentary products, namely, processed cereals, flour, rice, pasta, noodles, and alimentary pastes

 

See 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a)-(a)(1); TMEP §718.02(a).

 

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.  

 

 

 

/Dawn Han/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 107

(571) 272-0399

dawn.han@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 4/15/2019 FOR U.S. APPLICATION SERIAL NO. 88274951

 

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 4/15/2019 (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.