To: | Utech Products (rmadan@endosoft.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88389335 - ARGUS - N/A |
Sent: | September 03, 2019 06:27:56 AM |
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. 88389335
Mark: ARGUS
|
|
Correspondence Address:
|
|
Applicant: Utech Products
|
|
Reference/Docket No. N/A
Correspondence Email Address: |
|
NOTICE OF INCOMPLETE RESPONSE
Issue date: September 03, 2019
Notice of Incomplete Response – Response Not Signed by a Proper Party
Deadline for responding to this notice. To avoid abandonment of the application, the USPTO must receive a properly signed response within either (1) thirty days from the issue date above, or (2) the time remaining in the six-month period for responding to the initial Office action (issued on June 26, 2019), whichever is longer. TMEP §712.03; see 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a)(2). The response must be received by the USPTO no later than midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response deadline.
Response is not signed by a proper party and cannot be accepted. Applicant filed a second response on July 25, 2019 that appears to have been signed by a person with no legal authority to bind or represent applicant. The USPTO cannot accept a response signed by an improper party; therefore, the contents will not be reviewed. See 37 C.F.R. §2.62(b); TMEP §718.03.
The responses submitted on June 27, 2019 and July 25, 2019 are signed by someone with unclear legal authority (Ashley Boyce, marketing manager). It is noted that the applicant’s second response includes an attached statement from Rakesh Madan (president and CEO), authorizing Ms. Boyce as signatory. Per TMEP 712.01, this is not acceptable, as a person who is authorized to verify facts on behalf of an applicant under 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(1) is not entitled to sign responses to Office actions, unless he or she also has legal authority to bind the applicant or is a qualified practitioner. In this case, the actual response must be signed by the CEO or another corporate Officer of the applicant.
Resubmit a properly signed response or provide an explanation. Applicant must either (1) resubmit the entire response signed by a proper party, or (2) provide an explanation of the signer’s legal authority to bind or represent applicant. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(b)(2), 2.61(b), 2.62(b). Click to respond to a previous nonfinal Office action. See below for information about who can sign a response.
Who can sign the response.
Applicant does not have an attorney. The response must be signed by (1) the individual applicant, (2) someone with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant (e.g., a corporate officer of a corporation, or a general partner of a partnership), or (3) all joint applicants. See 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(ii); TMEP §§611.06(a)-(h), 712.01.
Applicant has an attorney. The attorney must sign the response. 37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(i); TMEP §712.01. The only attorneys who may sign responses are (1) attorneys in good standing with a bar of the highest court of any U.S. state or territory, and (2) Canadian trademark attorneys or agents reciprocally recognized by the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED). See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(a), 11.14(a), (c), (e); TMEP §602.
The USPTO must receive a properly signed response before the deadline or the USPTO will consider the application abandoned. 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); TMEP §718.03. In such case, applicant may file a new application with a new fee. A petition to the Director to reverse the holding of abandonment may be granted in very limited circumstances as outlined in TMEP §1713.01.
As noted above, in this case, the applicant must submit a response that is signed by the CEO or another corporate officer of the applicant. Please note that the response must address all of the issues raised in the Office action dated June 26, 2019 (identification of goods/services and specimen issues).
/Amy Alfieri/
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 109
Phone: 571.272.9422
Email: amy.alfieri@uspto.gov