United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88593123
Mark: RFID SLIT TECHNOLOGY
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Correspondence Address: |
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Applicant: Féinics AmaTech Teoranta
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Reference/Docket No. 7124-004tmus
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 29, 2019
The assigned trademark examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and has determined the following.
1. Foreign Registration Certificate
2. Mark Description
3. Identification of Goods
4. Disclaimer
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).
FOREIGN REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE REQUIRED
A copy of a foreign registration must consist of a document issued to an applicant by, or certified by, the intellectual property office in the applicant’s country of origin. TMEP §1004.01. If an applicant’s country of origin does not issue registrations or Madrid Protocol certificates of extension of protection, the applicant may submit a copy of the Madrid Protocol international registration that shows that protection of the international registration has been extended to the applicant’s country of origin. TMEP §1016.
Therefore, applicant must provide a copy of the foreign registration from applicant’s country of origin. If the foreign registration is not written in English, applicant must also provide an English translation. 37 C.F.R. §2.34(a)(3)(ii); TMEP §1004.01(a)-(b). The translation should be signed by the translator. TMEP §1004.01(b).
The following description is suggested, if accurate:
The mark consists of the wordings “RFID” and “SLIT TECHNOLOGY” in stylized font. An incomplete circle below two curved lines representing radio waves appears in the place of the tittle of the letter “I” of the wording “RFID” of the mark.
Jewelry; bracelets; necklaces; pendulums; watches; jewelry, namely, rings and wristbands; fobs for keys
. See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01. Applicant must amend these wordings to specify the common commercial or generic names of the goods. See TMEP §1402.01. If the goods have no common commercial or generic names, applicant must describe the products, their main purpose, and their intended uses. See id.
Applicant may adopt the following identification, if accurate:
Class 9:
Devices for electronic payment, namely, multi-functional electronic payment terminals; blank smart cards; credit cards without magnetic coding; cash cards, namely, magnetically encoded charge cards; magnetically encoded blank bank cards for issuance by financial institutions; payment cards, namely, electronic and magnetic ID cards for use in connection with payment of services; electronic and magnetic identity cards for use in connection with payment of services; electronic and magnetic ID cards for use in connection with payment of services; blank electronic chip cards; electronic key cards; encoded electronic chip cards containing programming used to process payments; magnetically encoded gift cards; printed cash cards; encoded integrated circuit cards; magnetically encoded debit cards; encoded electronic chip cards containing recorded data and programming use to __ [specify function or purpose and, if the programming is content or field specific, the field of use]; encoded identity cards for use in point of sale transactions; downloadable [and/or “recorded”] software for the operational data management of portable payment devices; electronic devices for use in relation to the electronic transfer of financial transactions, namely, __ [indicate common commercial name(s) or further describe nature and function of goods]; multifunctional electronic payment terminals; electronic key fobs being remote control apparatus
Class 11:
Suspension pendulums for suspension lamps
Class 14:
Jewelry; bracelets; necklaces; clock and watchmaking pendulums; watches; jewelry, namely, rings and rubber or silicone wristbands in the nature of a bracelet; decorative key fobs
Class 16:
Cash cards, namely, non-magnetically encoded prepaid purchase cards for __ [indicate use, e.g., allowing users to transfer financial value on-line via retail computer networks]; non-magnetically encoded blank bank cards for issuance by financial institutions; printed information cards in the field of banking; debit cards without magnetic coding
Class 25:
Wristbands as clothing
Applicant’s goods and/or services may be clarified or limited, but may not be expanded beyond those originally itemized in the application or as acceptably amended. See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06. Applicant may clarify or limit the identification by inserting qualifying language or deleting items to result in a more specific identification; however, applicant may not substitute different goods and/or services or add goods and/or services not found or encompassed by those in the original application or as acceptably amended. See TMEP §1402.06(a)-(b). The scope of the goods and/or services sets the outer limit for any changes to the identification and is generally determined by the ordinary meaning of the wording in the identification. TMEP §§1402.06(b), 1402.07(a)-(b). Any acceptable changes to the goods and/or services will further limit scope, and once goods and/or services are deleted, they are not permitted to be reinserted. 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.
MULTIPLE-CLASS APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS (advisory)
(1) List the goods and/or services by their international class number in consecutive numerical order, starting with the lowest numbered class.
(2) Submit a filing fee for each international class not covered by the fee(s) already paid (view the USPTO’s current fee schedule). The application identifies goods and/or services that may be classified in four classes; however, applicant submitted a fee(s) sufficient for only two classes. Applicant must either submit the filing fees for the classes not covered by the submitted fees or restrict the application to the number of classes covered by the fees already paid.
See 15 U.S.C. §§1051(b), 1112, 1126(e); 37 C.F.R. §§2.32(a)(6)-(7), 2.34(a)(2)-(3), 2.86(a); TMEP §§1403.01, 1403.02(c).
See an overview of the requirements for a Sections 1(b) and 44 multiple-class application and how to satisfy the requirements online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) form.
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wordings “RFID” and “SLIT TECHNOLOGY” because they are not inherently distinctive. This unregistrable term(s) at best is 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 attached evidence from an online dictionary and discussion of applicant’s goods shows that “RFID” stands for “radio frequency identification,” which is “a method for tracking goods by means of tags which transmit a radio signal,” and “SLIT TECHNOLOGY” means “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes” in related to “long narrow cut[s] or opening[s]” of an object. When used in connection with the identified goods that are or incorporate smart cards, the terms “RFID” and “SLIT TECHNOLOGY” would immediately point to a feature, function, characteristic, use and/or purpose of such goods that reflects the literal meanings of these words: that they feature RFID and a certain slit technology for smart cards. See attachments showing the significance of these terms in connection with applicant’s goods: being or contain RFID chips and applying technology for the “slit(s) of a coupling frame(s) to regulate the voltage delivery to the RFID chip.” Therefore, 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 “RFID” or “SLIT TECHNOLOGY” 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.
RESPONSE TO OFFICE ACTION
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.
/Dawn Han/
Examining Attorney
Law Office 107
(571) 272-0399
dawn.han@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE