To: | Milton's Baking Company, LLC (tm@cpdb.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88586156 - MILTON'S CRAFT BAKERS THIN & CRISPY - N/A |
Sent: | November 27, 2019 03:44:12 PM |
Sent As: | ecom113@uspto.gov |
Attachments: |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88586156
Mark: MILTON'S CRAFT BAKERS THIN & CRISPY
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Correspondence Address: ONE MONTGOMERY STREET, SUITE 3000
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Applicant: Milton's Baking Company, LLC
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Reference/Docket No. N/A
Correspondence Email Address: |
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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: November 27, 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.
The referenced application has been reviewed by the assigned trademark examining attorney. Applicant must respond timely and completely to the issue(s) below. 15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(a), 2.65(a); TMEP §§711, 718.03.
SEARCH OF OFFICE’S DATABASE OF MARKS
The trademark examining attorney has searched the Office’s database of registered and pending marks and has found no conflicting marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d). TMEP §704.02; see 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).
However, please note the following issues:
NEW DRAWING REQUIRED AND MARK DESCRIPTION REQUIRED
In addition to these drawing requirements, applicant must also submit a clear and concise description of the mark that does the following:
(1) Indicates the mark is a three-dimensional configuration of the goods or packaging or of a specific design feature of the goods or packaging.
(2) Specifies all the elements in the drawing that constitute the mark and are claimed as part of the mark.
(3) Specifies any elements that are not part of the mark and indicates that the matter shown in broken or dotted lines is not part of the mark and serves only to show the position or placement of the mark.
See 37 C.F.R. §§2.37, 2.52(b)(2), (b)(4); In re Famous Foods, Inc., 217 USPQ 177, 177 (TTAB 1983); TMEP §§807.08, 807.10, 1202.02(c)(ii).
Here, the outline of the pizza box represents the shape of the product packaging and must therefore be represented as dotted lines since this is not part of the mark and only shows the placement of the mark.
The following mark description referencing the required dotted lines is suggested:
The mark consists of package design with the outline of a sliced pizza on a cutting board on the lower half with two fingers holding one pizza slice which is partially folded. At the top of the package design in the center is the word "MILTON'S", with the words "CRAFT BAKERS" below. The words are inside two oval shaped ellipses. There is a four-leaf design in the lower left corner of the two ellipses. Below the Milton's Craft Baker design are the words "CAULIFLOWER CRUST". Above and towards the left of the word Cauliflower are the words "THIN & CRISPY". Below the word Crust is the word "PIZZA". There is a wide brush stroke design underneath the word Cauliflower, extending from the left side of the package design to two-thirds across. There is a narrow solid band along the bottom of the design. The dotted lines forming the square perimeter of the mark are not claimed as a feature of the mark but only meant to show the placement of the mark.
DISCLAIMER REQUIRED
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wording “CRAFT BAKERS” AND “THIN & CRISPY” and “CAULIFOLOWER CRUST PIZZA” 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 goods and/or services. 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 specimen indicates that the wording CRAFT BAKERS is meant to describe the fact that applicant’s goods consist of pizza that is baked while the wording THIN & CRISPY describes the style of pizza crust and the wording CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA also describes the type of pizza crust by indicating it is made from cauliflower. As a result, all of this wording must be disclaimed.
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “CRAFT BAKERS” AND “THIN & CRISPY” and “CAULIFOLOWER CRUST PIZZA” 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.
/Ahsen Khan/
Trademark Attorney
United States Patent & Trademark Office
Law Office 113
ahsen.khan@uspto.gov
(571) 272 4343
RESPONSE GUIDANCE