Offc Action Outgoing

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

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

 

 

 

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:  March 11, 2020

 

 

 

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INTRODUCTION

 

This Office action is supplemental to and supersedes the previous Office action issued on September 3, 2019 in connection with this application.  Based on information and/or documentation in applicant’s response, the trademark examining attorney now addresses additional required amendments to the identification of goods.  See TMEP §§706, 711.02. 

 

In a previous Office action dated September 3, 2019, the applicant was required to amend the identification of goods, explain the significance of the mark, and provide attorney bar information and an attestation.

 

Based on applicant’s response, the trademark examining attorney notes that the requirements to explain the significance of the mark, and for attorney bar information an attestation are satisfied.  See TMEP §713.02. 

 

The following is a SUMMARY OF ISSUES that applicant must address:

 

•        NEW ISSUE:  (Partial) Amendment of Identification of Goods Required

           

Applicant must respond to all issues raised in this Office action and the previous September 3, 2019, Office action, within six (6) months of the date of issuance of this Office action.  37 C.F.R. §2.62(a); see TMEP §711.02.  If applicant does not respond within this time limit, the application will be abandoned.  37 C.F.R. §2.65(a).

 

Applicant is encouraged to telephone or e-mail the assigned trademark examining attorney to resolve the issues raised in this Office action by examiner’s amendment.  Although the USPTO will not accept a formal response by e-mail, an applicant may communicate informally by phone or e-mail with the trademark examining attorney to agree to a proposed amendment to the application that will immediately place the application in condition for publication for opposition, issuance of a registration, or suspension.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.62(c); TMEP §707.

 

 

NEW ISSUE:  AMENDMENT OF IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS REQUIRED

(THIS PARTIAL REQUIREMENT APPLIES ONLY TO THE GOODS SPECIFIED HEREIN)

 

The identification of goods is unacceptable because it contains indefinite wording and must be clarified.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.  Applicant must clarify the nature of its cellulosic goods, raw material, and fibers.

 

It is noted that food additives for use in the manufacture of foods are in International Class 001 and the classification of “fibers” will depend on the nature of the goods and regardless of the purpose of the goods.  In addition, goods for use as food flavorings, not being essential oils, are properly classified in International Class 030.  Also, goods for further manufacture of products are classified depending on the nature of the goods.

 

Further, based on the cellulosic modifier of Applicant’s fibrous material, compositions, and composites in International Class 001, the wording “plastic fillers” appears incongruous. 

 

Applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate: 

 

International Class 001: “Unprocessed, natural and synthetic cellulose, lignocellulose; plant starch particles for industrial purposes for use in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods; unprocessed cellulosic and lignocellulosic pulp and fibers in the nature of cellulose for use in manufacture of a wide variety of goods; chemicals and chemical additives for use in manufacture of a wide variety of goods; ethanol not used as a fuel; butanol; n-butanol; alcohol for industrial purposes, namely, as an intermediate and precursor for a wide range of composites, compositions, products, co-products, and by-products; raw material in the nature of texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibrous material, compositions, and composites thereof all in the nature of cellulose, namely, fibrous paste, and wood flour for use as and plastic fillers for use in the further manufacture of agricultural products; natural or synthetic texturized cellulosic or lignocellulosic fibers in the nature of cellulose used alone or combined with a solid or liquid carrier for use in the manufacture of pollution control products, namely, absorbent materials used to absorb oil and/or for clean-up of environmental pollution; texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibers in the nature of cellulose used alone or combined with a solid or liquid carrier for use as excipients in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations and dietary supplements; fertilizer; food preservation composites and compositions, namely, charged materials packaged with foods for the preservation of food; unprocessed polymers, unprocessed polymer resins, and polymer base compositions, namely, lignin derived from lignocellulosic materials and used in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods;. organic and inorganic acids for industrial purposes, namely, hyaluronic acid, monocarboxylic acids, polycarboxylic acids, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, caproic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, hydroxybutyric acid, and mixtures of the foregoing acids; chemical bases for use in the biochemical and chemical industries, namely, analytical chemistry, biotechnology, petroleum technology, and bioprocessing; chemical buffers for use in analytical chemistry, biotechnology, petroleum technology, and bioprocessing; chemicals for use in manufacture of batteries; fly ash obtained from processing biomass used for general manufacturing; polymer base composites and compositions used in manufacture a wide variety of goods; elastomer base composites and compositions used in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods; unprocessed, natural and synthetic cellulose and lignocellulose, cellulose and lignocellulose pulp and fibers in the nature of cellulose, all for use as food additives in the manufacture of food products and animal feed additives; raw texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibrous material in the nature of cellulose for use in the manufacture of excipients and dietary supplements, namely, fiber supplements”

 

International Class 030: “Food additives for non-nutritional purposes for use as a food flavoring, not being essential oils, namely, processed and semi-processed natural and synthetic cellulose and lignocellulose, cellulose and lignocellulose pulp and fibers, and sugar and food starch particles; sugars”

 

Applicant may amend the identification to clarify or limit the goods, but not to broaden or expand the goods beyond those in the original application or as acceptably amended.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06.  Generally, any deleted goods may not later be reinserted.  See TMEP §1402.07(e).

 

For assistance with identifying and classifying goods and services in trademark applications, please see the USPTO’s online searchable U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual.  See TMEP §1402.04.

 

 

Partial Abandonment Advisory

 

For this application to proceed, applicant must explicitly address each refusal and/or requirement in this Office action.  For a refusal, applicant may provide written arguments and evidence against the refusal, and may have other response options if specified above.  For a requirement, applicant should set forth the changes or statements.  Please see “Responding to Office Actions” and the informational video “Response to Office Action” for more information and tips on responding.

 

If applicant does not timely respond to this Office action, the following goods will be deleted from the application: 

 

International Class 001: “plant starch particles for use in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods; unprocessed cellulosic and lignocellulosic pulp and fibers for use in manufacture of a wide variety of goods; raw material in the nature of texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibrous material, compositions, and composites thereof, namely, fibrous paste, wood flour and plastic fillers for use in the further manufacture of agricultural products; natural or synthetic texturized cellulosic or lignocellulosic fibers used alone or combined with a solid or liquid carrier for use in the manufacture of pollution control products, namely, absorbent materials used to absorb oil and/or for clean up of environmental pollution; texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibers used alone or combined with a solid or liquid carrier for use as excipients in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations and dietary supplements; unprocessed, natural and synthetic cellulose and lignocellulose, cellulose and lignocellulose pulp and fibers, for use in the manufacture of food products and animal feed additives; raw texturized cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibrous material for use in the manufacture of excipients and dietary supplements, namely, fiber supplements”

 

International Class 030: “Food additives for non-nutritional purposes for use as a flavoring, namely, processed and semi-processed natural and synthetic cellulose and lignocellulose, cellulose and lignocellulose pulp and fibers, and sugar and food starch particles”

 

See 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a); TMEP §718.02(a). 

 

In such case, the application will then proceed with the following goods only: 

 

International Class 001: “Unprocessed, natural and synthetic cellulose, lignocellulose; chemicals and chemical additives for use in manufacture of a wide variety of goods; ethanol not used as a fuel; butanol; n-butanol; alcohol for industrial purposes, namely, as an intermediate and precursor for a wide range of composites, compositions, products, co-products, and by-products; fertilizer; food preservation composites and compositions, namely, charged materials packaged with foods for the preservation of food; unprocessed polymers, unprocessed polymer resins, polymer base compositions, namely, lignin derived from lignocellulosic materials and used in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods; organic and inorganic acids for industrial purposes, namely, hyaluronic acid, monocarboxylic acids, polycarboxylic acids, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, caproic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, hydroxybutyric acid, and mixtures of the foregoing acids; chemical bases for use in the biochemical and chemical industries, namely, analytical chemistry, biotechnology, petroleum technology, and bioprocessing; chemical buffers for use in analytical chemistry, biotechnology, petroleum technology, and bioprocessing; chemicals for use in manufacture of batteries; fly ash obtained from processing biomass used for general manufacturing; polymer base composites and compositions used in manufacture a wide variety of goods; elastomer base composites and compositions used in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods”

 

International Class 030: “sugars”

 

See TMEP §718.02(a). 

 

 

Please call or email the assigned trademark examining attorney with questions about this Office action.  Although an examining attorney cannot provide legal advice, the examining attorney can provide additional explanation about the refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) in this Office action.  See TMEP §§705.02, 709.06.  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. 

 

 

Yi, Crystal

/Crystal H. Yi/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 123

571.270.0763

crystal.yi@uspto.gov

 

 

How to respond.  Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action.    

 

 

RESPONSE GUIDANCE

• Missing the response deadline to this letter will cause the application to abandon.  A response or notice of appeal must be received by the USPTO before midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response period.  TEAS and ESTTA maintenance or unforeseen circumstances could affect an applicant’s ability to timely respond.  

 

• Responses signed by an unauthorized party are not accepted and can cause the application to abandon.  If applicant does not have an attorney, the response must be signed by the individual applicant, all joint applicants, or someone with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant.  If applicant has an attorney, the response must be signed by the attorney.

 

• If needed, find contact information for the supervisor of the office or unit listed in the signature block.

 

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

 

USPTO OFFICIAL NOTICE

 

Office Action (Official Letter) has issued

on March 11, 2020 for

U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88466747

 

Your trademark application has been reviewed by a trademark examining attorney.  As part of that review, the assigned attorney has issued an official letter that you must respond to by the specified deadline or your application will be abandoned.  Please follow the steps below.

 

(1)  Read the official letter.

 

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

 

 

Yi, Crystal

/Crystal H. Yi/

Examining Attorney

Law Office 123

571.270.0763

crystal.yi@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).

 

(3)  Respond within 6 months (or earlier, if required in the Office action) from March 11, 2020, using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).  The response must be received by the USPTO before midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response period.  See the Office action for more information about how to respond

 

 

 

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.”