To: | Brandenburg the Film, LLC (pto@fkks.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88344877 - BRIGHTBURN - N/A |
Sent: | April 15, 2020 09:01:47 AM |
Sent As: | ecom123@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88344877
Mark: BRIGHTBURN
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Correspondence Address: FRANKFURT KURNIT KLEIN & SELZ PC
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Applicant: Brandenburg the Film, 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.
Issue date: April 15, 2020
Webpage specimen does not include required date printed/accessed. Registration is refused because the specimen is not acceptable as a webpage specimen; it lacks the required URL and/or date printed/accessed. See 37 C.F.R. §2.56(c); Mandatory Electronic Filing & Specimen Requirements, Examination Guide 1-20, at V.B. (Rev. Feb. 2020). The specimen thus appears to be in the nature of a digital mockup that fails to show the applied-for mark in actual use in commerce. Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45, 15 U.S.C. §§1051, 1127; 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(1)(iv), 2.56(a), (c); see TMEP §§904, 904.03(g), 904.07(a). An application based on Trademark Act Section 1(a) must include a specimen showing the applied-for mark as actually used in commerce for each international class of goods and services identified in the statement of use. 15 U.S.C. §1051(a)(1); 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(1)(iv), 2.56(a); TMEP §§904, 904.07(a).
A webpage submitted as a specimen must include the URL and access or print date to show actual use in commerce. 37 C.F.R. §2.56(c). Because the webpage specimen lacks the associated access or print date on it, within the TEAS form used to submit the specimen, or in a verified statement in a later-filed response, it is unacceptable to show use of the mark in commerce.
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).
Response options. Applicant may respond to this refusal by satisfying one of the following for each applicable international class:
(1) Submit a verified statement, in a signed affidavit or supported by a declaration under 37 C.F.R. §2.20 or 28 U.S.C. §1746, specifying the URL of the original webpage specimen and the date it was accessed or printed.
(2) Submit a different specimen (a verified “substitute” specimen) including the URL and date accessed/printed on it, 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 goods and/or services identified in the statement of use. Applicant must also submit 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.”
Applicant may not withdraw the statement of use. See 37 C.F.R. §2.88(f); TMEP §1109.17.
For an overview of the response options referenced above and instructions on how to satisfy these options using the online Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) form, see the Specimen webpage.
DOMICILE ADDRESS REQUIRED
An individual applicant’s domicile is the place a person resides and intends to be the person’s principal home. 37 C.F.R. §2.2(o); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. A juristic entity’s domicile is the principal place of business, i.e., headquarters, where a juristic entity applicant’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. 37 C.F.R. §2.2(o); Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A. An applicant whose domicile is located outside of the United States or its territories is foreign-domiciled and must be represented at the USPTO by a U.S.-licensed attorney qualified to practice before the USPTO under 37 C.F.R. §11.14. 37 C.F.R. §2.11(a).
The application record lists applicant as a juristic entity and specifies applicant’s domicile as a “c/o” or in “care of” another party’s address. In most cases, an address that is listed as “c/o” or in “care of” another party’s address is not acceptable as a domicile address because it does not identify the location of applicant’s headquarters where the entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities. See37 C.F.R. §§2.2(o)-(p), 2.189; Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3. Thus, applicant must provide its domicile street address. See 37 C.F.R. §2.189. Alternatively, an applicant may demonstrate that the listed address is, in fact, the applicant’s domicile. Examination Guide 4-19, at I.A.3.
To provide documentation supporting applicant’s domicile. Open the correct TEAS response form and enter the serial number, answer “yes” to wizard question #3, and on the “Additional Statement(s)” page, below the “Miscellaneous Statement” field, click the button below the text box to attach documentation to support the address.
To provide applicant’s domicile street address. After opening the correct TEAS response form and entering the serial number, answer “yes” to wizard question #5, and provide applicant’s street address on the “Owner Information” page. Information provided in the TEAS response form will be publicly viewable.
If applicant wants to hide its domicile address from public view because of privacy or other concerns, applicant must have a mailing address that can be made public and differs from its domicile address. In this case, applicant must follow the steps below in the correct order to ensure the domicile address will be hidden:
(1) First submit a TEAS Change Address or Representation (CAR) form. Open the form, enter the serial number, click “Continue,” and
(a) Use the radio buttons to select “Attorney” for the role of the person submitting the form;
(b) Answer “Yes” to the wizard question asking, “Do you want to UPDATE the mailing address, email address, phone or fax number(s) for the trademark owner/holder?” and click “Continue;”
(c) On the “Owner Information” page, if the previously provided mailing address has changed, applicant must enter its new mailing address in the “Mailing Address” field, which will be publicly viewable;
(d) On the “Owner Information” page, uncheck the box next to “Domicile Address” and enter the new domicile address in the text box immediately below the checkbox.
(2) Then submit a TEAS response form to indicate the domicile address has been changed. Open the form and
(a) Answer “yes” to wizard question #3 and click “Continue;”
(b) Click on the “Miscellaneous Statement” box on the “Additional Statement(s)” page, and enter a statement in the text box immediately below the checkbox that the domicile address was previously changed in the CAR form.
The USPTO does not accept emails as responses to Office actions; however, emails can be used for informal communications and are included in the application record. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(c), 2.191; TMEP §§304.01-.02, 709.04-.05.
How to respond. Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action.
/Megan M. Hartnett/
Megan M. Hartnett
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 123
571-270-1977
megan.hartnett@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE