Offc Action Outgoing

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application

Issue date:  April 01, 2020

Notice of Incomplete Response – Response Not Signed by Applicant’s Current Attorney

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 previous Office action, 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 response on 03/01/2020 that was signed by a different attorney from a different law firm than the current attorney(s) and firm of record in this application.  The revocation or power of attorney filed prior to this response was not properly signed by applicant; thus the new attorney does not have authority to sign the response.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(c)(2), 2.19(a)(1), 2.193(e)(3); TMEP §§604.03, 611.03(b)-(c).  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. 

Response options for this notice.  Applicant must either (1) submit a response signed by applicant’s current attorney, or (2) sign and file a new revocation or appointment of attorney using the Change Address or Representation form and then resubmit the response signed by the new attorney.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(b)(1)(i), 2.19(a)(2), 2.62(b), 2.193(e)(2)(i).  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 has an attorney.  The attorney must sign the response.  37 C.F.R. §2.193(e)(2)(i); TMEP §712.01.  When, as in this case, an applicant who was initially represented by an attorney hires a different attorney from a different law firm, the new attorney from the different firm can sign responses only after the applicant has signed and filed a revocation of the current attorney or a power/appointment of attorney for the new attorney, or the current attorney withdraws.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.17(c), 2.19(a)-(b), 2.193(e)(3); TMEP §604.03. 

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. 

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.

/Salima Parmar Oestreicher/

Salima Parmar Oestreicher

Examining Attorney

Law Office 108

(571) 272-6786

Salima.Oestreicher@uspto.gov

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

USPTO OFFICIAL NOTICE

Office Action (Official Letter) has issued

on April 01, 2020 for

U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88455594

Your trademark application has been reviewed by a trademark examining attorney.  As part of that review, the assigned attorney has issued an official letter.  Please follow the steps below.

(1)  Read the official letter.  No response is necessary.

(2)  Direct questions about the contents of the Office action to the assigned attorney below. 

/Salima Parmar Oestreicher/

Salima Parmar Oestreicher

Examining Attorney

Law Office 108

(571) 272-6786

Salima.Oestreicher@uspto.gov

Direct questions about navigating USPTO electronic forms, the USPTO website, the application process, the status of your application, and/or whether there are outstanding deadlines or documents related to your file to the Trademark Assistance Center (TAC).

GENERAL GUIDANCE

·       Check the status of your application periodically in the Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) database to avoid missing critical deadlines.

·       Update your correspondence email address, if needed, to ensure you receive important USPTO notices about your application.

·       Beware of misleading notices sent by private companies about your application.  Private companies not associated with the USPTO use public information available in trademark registrations to mail and email trademark-related offers and notices – most of which require fees.  All official USPTO correspondence will only be emailed from the domain “@uspto.gov.”