To: | Valentine, Michael (michaelpaulvalentine@gmail.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88383853 - THE BUSINESS PLAN CANVAS - N/A |
Sent: | November 22, 2019 03:43:29 PM |
Sent As: | ecom109@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88383853
Mark: THE BUSINESS PLAN CANVAS
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Correspondence Address: |
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Applicant: Valentine, Michael
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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) 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: November 22, 2019
This Office action responds to the applicant’s correspondence received on October 19, 2019. The Section 2(d) refusal is withdrawn. The following requirements are now repeated and made FINAL: the requirement to amend the classification of goods, the disclaimer requirement and the requirement regarding the significance of the mark.
The applicant is advised as follows:
Classification of Goods
This requirement is repeated and made FINAL.
Disclaimer Required
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wording BUSINESS PLAN because it is not inherently distinctive. These unregistrable term(s) at best are merely descriptive of an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose, or use of applicant’s goods and/or services. See 15 U.S.C. §1052(e)(1); DuoProSS Meditech Corp. v. Inviro Med. Devices, Ltd., 695 F.3d 1247, 1251, 103 USPQ2d 1753, 1755 (Fed. Cir. 2012); TMEP §§1213, 1213.03(a).
As evidenced by the identification of goods and specimen of use submitted with the initial application, the wording BUSINESS PLAN describes the subject matter of the printed instructional and teaching materials.
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “BUSINESS PLAN” apart from the mark as shown.
For an overview of disclaimers and instructions on how to satisfy this issue using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), see the Disclaimer webpage.
This requirement is repeated and made FINAL.
Significance of the Mark
(1) Explain whether the wording in the mark “CANVAS” 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) Respond to the following questions:
Does the term CANVAS describe a feature of any or all of the applicant’s goods?
Are any or all of the applicant’s instructional or teaching materials provided on a canvas?
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.
This requirement is repeated and made FINAL.
Options – Proper Response to Final Office Action
Applicant must respond within six months of the date of issuance of this final Office action or the application will be abandoned. 15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a). Applicant may respond by providing one or both of the following:
(1) A request for reconsideration that fully resolves all outstanding requirements and refusals; and/or
(2) An appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board with the required filing fees.
TMEP §715.01; see 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(1)-(2).
Information for TEAS RF Applicants
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 final Office action and/or appeal it to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)
/Amy Alfieri/
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 109
571-272-9422
amy.alfieri@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE