To: | Botavn, LLC (jae@botavn.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88324807 - BOTÁVN - N/A |
Sent: | November 21, 2019 04:00:11 PM |
Sent As: | ecom109@uspto.gov |
Attachments: | Attachment - 1 Attachment - 2 Attachment - 3 Attachment - 4 Attachment - 5 Attachment - 6 Attachment - 7 Attachment - 8 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88324807
Mark: BOTÁVN
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Correspondence Address:
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Applicant: Botavn, LLC
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Reference/Docket No. N/A
Correspondence Email Address: |
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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.
Issue date: November 21, 2019
Because of the legal technicalities and strict deadlines of the trademark application process, applicant may wish to hire a private attorney who specializes in trademark matters to assist in the process. The assigned trademark examining attorney can provide only limited assistance explaining the content of an Office action and the application process. USPTO staff cannot provide legal advice or statements about an applicant’s legal rights. TMEP §§705.02, 709.06. See Hiring a U.S.-licensed trademark attorney for more information.
The assigned trademark examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and has determined the following:
NO SIMILAR MARKS
The trademark examining attorney has searched the Office’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).
Applicant, however, should note the following refusals.
SECTION 2(e)(1) REFUSAL – MERELY DESCRIPTIVE
The term Botávn translates to BOTANICAL and means “Of a substance or (typically) a mixture of substances: consisting of or derived from a plant or plants, or their parts or constituents, and used esp. for cosmetic or medicinal purposes.” Please see the attached definition from the Oxford English Dictionary Online.
In this case, the term merely describes nutritional supplements that consist of or are derived from plants. Indeed, the identification indicates that the goods contain plant-derived ingredients. As such, the mark merely describes a feature of the goods.
Accordingly, because the applicant’s mark is merely descriptive under Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act, registration is refused.
SECTIONS 1 AND 45 REFUSAL – NOT IN LAWFUL USE IN COMMERCE
Registration is refused because applicant does not have a bona fide intent to lawfully use the applied-for mark in commerce. Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45, 15 U.S.C. §§1051, 1127; see TMEP §907.
To qualify for federal trademark/service mark registration, the use of a mark in commerce must be lawful. Gray v. Daffy Dan’s Bargaintown, 823 F.2d 522, 526, 3 USPQ2d 1306, 1308 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (stating that “[a] valid application cannot be filed at all for registration of a mark without ‘lawful use in commerce’”); TMEP §907; see In re Stellar Int’l, Inc., 159 USPQ 48, 50-51 (TTAB 1968); Coahoma Chemical Co., Inc. v. Smith, 113 USPQ 413 (Com’r Pat. & Trademarks 1957) (concluding that “use of a mark in connection with unlawful shipments in interstate commerce is not use of a mark in commerce which the [Office] may recognize.”). Thus, the goods to which the mark is applied must comply with all applicable federal laws. See In re Brown, 119 USPQ2d 1350, 1351 (TTAB 2016) (citing In re Midwest Tennis & Track Co., 29 USPQ2d 1386, 1386 n.2 (TTAB 1993) (noting that “[i]t is settled that the Trademark Act’s requirement of ‘use in commerce,’ means a ‘lawful use in commerce’”)); In re Pepcom Indus., Inc., 192 USPQ 400, 401 (TTAB 1976); TMEP §907.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of a food to which has been added a drug or a biological product for which substantial clinical investigations have been instituted and for which the existence of such investigations has been made public. 21 U.S.C. §331(ll); see also 21 U.S.C. §321(ff) (indicating that a dietary supplement is deemed to be a food within the meaning of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act).
Cannabidiol (CBD) is an active ingredient in an FDA-approved drug, Epidiolex®, (see http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm611046.htm copy attached) and is the subject of substantial clinical investigations before it was marketed in foods or as dietary supplements. See FDA Regulation of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products: Questions and Answers http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.htm copy attached.
Applicant’s goods and/or services are broad enough to encompass products that consist of, or include, items or activities that are or were prohibited by the FDCA, namely, “Nutritional supplements containing hemp essential oils and terpenes found in plant extracts.”
The attached excerpt from applicant’s website plainly indicates that applicant’s identified goods/services include supplements containing CBD.
It is unlawful to introduce food containing added CBD into interstate commerce or to market CBD as, or in, dietary supplements, regardless of whether the substances are hemp-derived. See Statement of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on signing of the Agriculture Improvement Act and the agency’s regulation of products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds.
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm628988.htm copy attached.
In order for an application to have a valid basis that could properly result in a registration, the use of the mark has to be lawful. See In re Pepcom Indus., Inc., 192 USPQ 400, 401 (TTAB 1976) Because introduction of such goods into commerce was not lawful as of the filing date, applicant did not have a bona fide intent to lawfully use the applied-for mark in commerce in connection with such goods and/or the identified services. See e.g. In re JJ206, LLC, 120 USPQ2d 1568, 1569 (TTAB 2016) (“where the identified goods are illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the applicant cannot use its mark in lawful commerce, and ‘it is a legal impossibility’ for the applicant to have the requisite bona fide intent to use the mark.”); see also In re Brown, 119 USPQ2d, 1351-1352; TMEP §907.
Although the trademark examining attorney has refused registration, applicant may respond to the refusals to register by submitting evidence and arguments in support of registration. If applicant chooses to respond to the refusals to register, then applicant must also respond to the following requirements.
Entries in the ID Manual are presumed to include only those goods and/or services within the ordinary meaning of the words and the ordinary channels of trade for those goods and/or services. Thus, an applicant must further explain specialized types of goods and/or services or specialized trade channels outside the ordinary meaning in identifications. See TMEP §1402.05.
In this case, applicant’s wording is typically used to identify traditional supplements. However, the evidence of record shows that applicant’s goods may actually contain unlawful CBD.
Applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate:
“Nutritional supplements containing hemp essential oils and terpenes found in plant extracts and not containing CBD” in International Class 005.
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.
EXPLANATION OF MARK’S SIGNIFICANCE REQUIRED
To permit proper examination of the application, applicant must provide all the following information:
(1) Explain whether the wording in the mark “BOTÁVN” has any meaning or significance in the trade or industry in which applicant’s goods and/or services are manufactured or provided, any meaning or significance as applied to applicant’s goods and/or services, or if such wording is a term of art within applicant’s industry.
(2) Explain whether the wording in the mark “BOTÁVN” identifies a geographic place.
(3) Respond to the following inquiry: Please confirm the translation provided and indicate the language of the term?
See 37 C.F.R. §2.61(b); TMEP §814.
Failure to comply with a request for information is grounds for refusing registration. In re Harley, 119 USPQ2d 1755, 1757-58 (TTAB 2016); TMEP §814.
RESPONSE GUIDELINES
For this application to proceed, applicant must explicitly address each refusal and/or requirement in this Office action. For a refusal, applicant may provide written arguments and evidence against the refusal, and may have other response options if specified above. For a requirement, applicant should set forth the changes or statements. Please see “Responding to Office Actions” and the informational video “Response to Office Action” for more information and tips on responding.
/Robert J. Struck/
Robert J. Struck
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 109
Robert.Struck@uspto.gov
571-272-1513
How to respond. Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action
RESPONSE GUIDANCE