To: | The Procter & Gamble Company (pgtrademarks.im@pg.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88424907 - TONE PERFECTION - Female Skin |
Sent: | July 29, 2019 09:35:00 PM |
Sent As: | ecom101@uspto.gov |
Attachments: | Attachment - 1 Attachment - 2 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88424907
Mark: TONE PERFECTION
|
|
Correspondence Address: |
|
Applicant: The Procter & Gamble Company
|
|
Reference/Docket No. Female Skin
Correspondence Email Address: |
|
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: July 29, 2019
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 nonfinal Office action
Search Results
Disclaimer Required
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wording “TONE” because it is not inherently distinctive. This unregistrable term is at best merely descriptive of a characteristic, function, feature, purpose, or use of applicant’s goods. 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).
The applicant seeks to register TONE PERFECTION for non-medicated skin care preparations. Tone is defined as “A color or shade of color”. See the attached dictionary definition. The word TONE describes a feature or purpose of the goods and that is to provide color to the skin. Thus, the wording merely describes applicant’s goods.
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “TONE” 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.
Email/Telephone for Inquiries
/Angela M Micheli/
Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office 101
571.272.9196
571.273.9196 (fax)
angela.micheli@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE