To: | ABC, Inc. (trademarks@disney.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88570257 - VISTA L.A. - N/A |
Sent: | November 12, 2019 09:46:16 PM |
Sent As: | ecom110@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88570257
Mark: VISTA L.A.
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Correspondence Address: |
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Applicant: ABC, Inc.
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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). A link to the appropriate TEAS response form appears at the end of this Office action.
Issue date: November 12, 2019
The assigned examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and determined the following.
Summary of Issues That Must Be Addressed
• Disclaimer
• Recitation of Services
The examining attorney has searched the Office records and has found no similar registered or pending mark which would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d). TMEP §704.02.
Applicant must provide a disclaimer of the unregistrable part(s) of the applied-for mark even though the mark as a whole appears to be registrable. See 15 U.S.C. §1056(a); TMEP §§1213, 1213.03(a). A disclaimer of an unregistrable part of a mark will not affect the mark’s appearance. See Schwarzkopf v. John H. Breck, Inc., 340 F.2d 978, 979-80, 144 USPQ 433, 433 (C.C.P.A. 1965).
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wording “L.A.” 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 services, specifically, that the field of the services are topics of interest in Los Angeles (as indicated directly in the applicant’s identification of 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).
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “L.A.” 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.
Recitation of Services
Applicant may adopt the following wording, if accurate: Providing information, news and commentary in the field of topics of interest in Los Angeles [classification depends on field of information, e.g., restaurants in Class 43; travel and/or traffic in Class 39; legal services, in Class 45, etc.].
Please note that, while an application may be amended to clarify or limit the identification, additions to the identification are not permitted. 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06. Therefore, the applicant may not amend to include any services that are not within the scope of services set forth in the present identification.
The applicant may wish to consult the on-line identification manual on the PTO homepage for acceptable common names of goods and services:
http://www.gov.uspto.report/web/offices/tac/doc/gsmanual/
If the applicant has any questions or needs assistance in responding to this Office action, please telephone the assigned examining attorney.
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
/Giancarlo Castro/
Giancarlo Castro
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 110
giancarlo.castro@uspto.gov
571-272-9357
RESPONSE GUIDANCE