To: | ORION CORPORATION (chiustm@ladas.net) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88623434 - ORION PEANUT CUBE - 3T19719663 |
Sent: | December 03, 2019 04:35:33 PM |
Sent As: | ecom111@uspto.gov |
Attachments: | Attachment - 1 Attachment - 2 Attachment - 3 Attachment - 4 Attachment - 5 Attachment - 6 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88623434
Mark: ORION PEANUT CUBE
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Correspondence Address: |
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Applicant: ORION CORPORATION
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Reference/Docket No. 3T19719663
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: December 03, 2019
SEARCH OF OFFICE’S DATABASE OF MARKS
In response to this Office action, applicant may present arguments in support of registration by addressing the issue of the potential conflict between applicant’s mark and the mark in the referenced application. Applicant’s election not to submit arguments at this time in no way limits applicant’s right to address this issue later if a refusal under Section 2(d) issues.
In this case, applicant must disclaim the wording “PEANUT CUBE” 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 attached evidence from Lexico dictionary shows the wording PEANUT means “The oval seed of a tropical South American plant, often roasted and salted and eaten as a snack or used to make oil or animal feed,” and CUBE means “A symmetrical three-dimensional shape, either solid or hollow, contained by six equal squares.” Also, the attached evidence from Cokoyam shows applicant produces peanut based snacks that are in a cube shape. Thus, the wording merely describes applicant’s goods because they are peanut based snacks that are cuboidal in shape.
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “PEANUT CUBE” 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.
INFORMATION ABOUT GOODS REQUIRED
Are or will applicant’s goods contain peanuts and be shaped like a cube?
Factual information about the goods must clearly indicate how they operate, their salient features, and their prospective customers and channels of trade. Factual information about the services must clearly indicate what the services are and how they are rendered, their salient features, and their prospective customers and channels of trade. Conclusory statements will not satisfy this requirement for information.
Failure to comply with a request for information is grounds for refusing registration. In re Harley, 119 USPQ2d 1755, 1757-58 (TTAB 2016); TMEP §814. Merely stating that information about the goods or services is available on applicant’s website is an insufficient response and will not make the relevant information of record. See In re Planalytics, Inc., 70 USPQ2d 1453, 1457-58 (TTAB 2004).
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.
/Jonathan Falk/
Jonathan R. Falk
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 111
(571)272-5301
Jonathan.falk@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE