To: | Celebrity Media TV (celebritymediatv@gmail.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88634284 - CELEBRITY MEDIA TV - N/A |
Sent: | December 31, 2019 01:09:19 PM |
Sent As: | ecom109@uspto.gov |
Attachments: | Attachment - 1 Attachment - 2 Attachment - 3 Attachment - 4 Attachment - 5 Attachment - 6 Attachment - 7 Attachment - 8 Attachment - 9 Attachment - 10 Attachment - 11 Attachment - 12 Attachment - 13 Attachment - 14 Attachment - 15 Attachment - 16 Attachment - 17 Attachment - 18 Attachment - 19 Attachment - 20 Attachment - 21 Attachment - 22 Attachment - 23 Attachment - 24 Attachment - 25 Attachment - 26 Attachment - 27 Attachment - 28 Attachment - 29 Attachment - 30 Attachment - 31 Attachment - 32 Attachment - 33 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88634284
Mark: CELEBRITY MEDIA TV
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Correspondence Address:
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Applicant: Celebrity Media TV
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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: December 31, 2019
Because of the legal technicalities and strict deadlines of the trademark application process, applicant may wish to hire a private attorney who specializes in trademark matters to assist in the process. The assigned trademark examining attorney can provide only limited assistance explaining the content of an Office action and the application process. USPTO staff cannot provide legal advice or statements about an applicant’s legal rights. TMEP §§705.02, 709.06. See Hiring a U.S.-licensed trademark attorney for more information.
The assigned trademark examining attorney has reviewed the referenced application and has determined the following:
NO SIMILAR 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).
Applicant, however, must respond to the following issues.
MARK ON DRAWING DOES NOT MATCH MARK ON SPECIMEN
Registration is refused because the specimen does not show the mark in the drawing in use in commerce, which is required in the application or amendment to allege use. Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45, 15 U.S.C. §§1051, 1127; 37 C.F.R. §§2.34(a)(1)(iv), 2.56(a); TMEP §§904, 904.07(a), 1301.04(g)(i). The mark appearing on the specimen and in the drawing must match; that is, the mark in the drawing “must be a substantially exact representation of the mark” on the specimen. See 37 C.F.R. §2.51(a)-(b); TMEP §807.12(a).
In this case, the specimen displays the mark as CELEBRITY MEDIA TV WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM & design in yellow, blue, red, black and white. However, the drawing displays the mark as CELEBRITY MEDIA TV WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM & design in yellow, blue, red and black. The mark on the specimen does not match the mark in the drawing because the wording WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM appears in black on the drawing but in white on the specimen. The specimen may show the mark in the proper colors. However, this portion of the specimen is not clear and does not clearly show all of the wording. Applicant has thus failed to provide the required evidence of use of the mark in commerce. See TMEP §807.12(a).
Applicant may respond to this refusal by satisfying one of the following:
(1) Submit a new color drawing of the mark that shows the mark on the specimen and an amendment of the description and color claim that agrees with the new drawing. See 37 C.F.R. §2.72(b). Applicant may amend the mark in the drawing to match the mark on the specimen but may not make any other changes or amendments that would materially alter the drawing of the mark. See 37 C.F.R. §2.72(a)-(b); TMEP §807.14. The following color claim and description are suggested, if accurate:
Color claim: “The colors yellow, blue, red, black and white are claimed as a feature of the mark.”
Description: “The mark consists of the stylized wording "Celebrity" appearing in yellow with small light bulbs around inside of each letter and black shadow on the lower part of the wording. The stylized wordings "MEDIA" in color blue and "TV" in color red with an image of a black television screen at the back of it, are written in capital letters located underneath the wording "Celebrity". The wording "WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM" is written in white small font underneath the wording "MEDIA".”
(2) Submit a new black-and-white drawing of the mark and an amendment deleting any color claim and modifying the description to delete any references to color. The following description is suggested, if accurate: “The mark consists of the stylized wording "Celebrity" appearing with small light bulbs around inside of each letter and shadow on the lower part of the wording. The stylized wordings "MEDIA" and "TV" with an image of a television screen at the back of it, are written in capital letters located underneath the wording "Celebrity". The wording "WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM" is written in small font underneath the wording "MEDIA".” Applicant may amend the mark in the drawing to delete color but may not make any other changes or amendments that would materially alter the mark on the drawing. See 37 C.F.R. §2.72(a)-(b); TMEP §807.14.
(3) Submit a different specimen (a verified “substitute” specimen) for each applicable international class that (a) shows the mark in the drawing in actual use in commerce in the colors depicted on the drawing and for the goods and/or services in the application or amendment to allege use, and (b) in actual use in commerce at least as early as the filing date of the application or prior to the filing of an amendment to allege use.
Examples of specimens for goods include tags, labels, instruction manuals, containers, photographs that show the mark on the actual goods or packaging, and displays associated with the actual goods at their point of sale. See TMEP §§904.03 et seq. Webpages may also be specimens for goods when they include a picture or textual description of the goods associated with the mark and the means to order the goods. TMEP §904.03(i). Examples of specimens for services include advertising and marketing materials, brochures, photographs of business signage and billboards, and webpages that show the mark used in the actual sale, rendering, or advertising of the services. See TMEP §1301.04(a), (h)(iv)(C).
For more information about drawings and instructions on how to satisfy these response options online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) form, see the Drawing webpage.
To submit a verified specimen or verified substitute specimen online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) response form, (1) answer “Yes” to form wizard question #2; and then, continuing on to the next portion of the form, under the heading “Classification and Listing of Goods/Services/Collective Membership Organization,” do the following for each relevant class for which a specimen is being submitted: (2) check the box next to the following statement: “Check here to modify the current classification number; listing of goods/services/the nature of the collective membership organization; dates of use; and/or filing basis; or to submit a substitute specimen, a foreign registration certificate, or proof of renewal of a foreign registration. If not checked, the changes will be ignored.”; (3) under “Specimen File,” attach a specimen (attachment may not exceed 5 megabytes); (4) describe in the box below where you attached the file what the specimen consists of; and (5) check the box next to the following statement below the specimen description (to ensure that the declaration language is inserted into the form): “The substitute (or new, or originally submitted, if appropriate) specimen(s) was/were in use in commerce at least as early as the filing date of the application” [for an application based on Section 1(a), Use in Commerce] OR “The substitute (or new, or originally submitted, if appropriate) specimen(s) was/were in use in commerce prior either to the filing of the Amendment to Allege Use or expiration of the filing deadline for filing a Statement of Use” [for an application based on Section 1(b) Intent-to-Use]. Additionally, when submitting a verified specimen, the TEAS online form requires two signatures: one in the “Declaration Signature” section and one in the “Response Signature” section.
COLOR CLAIM AND MARK DESCRIPTION
A complete color claim must reference all the colors appearing in the drawing of the mark. See 37 C.F.R. §2.52(b)(1); TMEP §§807.07(a) et seq. Similarly, a complete description of a mark depicted in color must specify where the colors appear in the literal and design elements of the mark. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.37, 2.52(b)(1); TMEP §§807.07(a) et seq. If black, white, and/or gray represent background, outlining, shading, and/or transparent areas and are not part of the mark, applicant must so specify in the description. See TMEP §807.07(d).
The following color claim and description are suggested, if accurate:
Color claim: “The colors yellow, blue, red, black and white are claimed as a feature of the mark.”
Description: “The mark consists of the stylized wording "Celebrity" appearing in yellow with small light bulbs around inside of each letter and black shadow on the lower part of the wording. The stylized wordings "MEDIA" in color blue and "TV" in color red with an image of a black and white television screen at the back of it, are written in capital letters located underneath the wording "Celebrity". The wording "WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM" is written in black small font underneath the wording "MEDIA".”
IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICES
Applicant may adopt the following wording, if accurate. Please note the proper classification for the services.
“Online digital live streaming of audio, visual and audiovisual material via a global computer network” in International Class 038.
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.
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 “CELEBRITY MEDIA TV WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM” 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 the Oxford English Dictionary Online shows this wording means “A well-known or famous person; (now chiefly) spec. a person, esp. in entertainment or sport, who attracts interest from the general public and attention from the mass media,” “The main means of mass communication, esp. newspapers, radio, and television, regarded collectively; the reporters, journalists, etc., working for organizations engaged in such communication. Also, as a count noun: a particular means of mass communication” and “Television and the technology or equipment relating to it; the activity or occupation of broadcasting or transmitting on television; that which is broadcast or transmitted by television.” In this case, the wording merely describes online live streaming of mass communication and television programming that feature famous people. Thus, the wording merely describes feature of the applicant’s services.
Lastly, the non-source-identifying generic top-level domain (gTLD) “.com” merely indicates an Internet address for use by commercial, for-profit organizations. See, e.g., In re 1800Mattress.com IP LLC, 586 F.3d 1359, 1364, 92 USPQ2d 1682, 1685 (Fed. Cir. 2009); In re Hotels.com, L.P., 573 F.3d 1300, 1301, 1304, 91 USPQ2d 1532, 1533, 1535 (Fed. Cir. 2009); In re Oppedahl & Larsen LLP, 373 F.3d 1171, 1175-77, 71 USPQ2d 1370, 1373-74 (Fed. Cir. 2004); see also TMEP §§1209.03(m), 1215.01.
Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format:
No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “CELEBRITY MEDIA TV WWW.CELEBRITYMEDIATV.COM” 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 GUIDELINES
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.
/Robert J. Struck/
Robert J. Struck
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 109
Robert.Struck@uspto.gov
571-272-1513
How to respond. Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action.
RESPONSE GUIDANCE