Offc Action Outgoing

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application

 

 

 

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:  March 12, 2020

 

 

 

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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.

 

The trademark examining attorney searched the USPTO database of registered and pending marks and found no conflicting marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d).  15 U.S.C. §1052(d); TMEP §704.02.

 

Recitation of Services

The identification of services is indefinite and must be clarified because “providing reviews of travel destinations and travel tours via computer networks and global information networks” and “providing information, news, and reviews of travel service providers” are indefinite.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01.  The service of providing reviews may be classified according to the subject matter of the review or the overall purpose of the review.

 

For example, “Providing reviews of travel service providers” is classified in Class 39, and “Providing reviews of restaurants” is classified in Class 43, but “Providing user reviews of events for entertainment purposes” is classified in Class 41 according to the overall purpose of the service. In this case, the wording “providing reviews of travel destinations and travel tours via computer networks and global information networks” is indefinite and overbroad in that “reviews of travel destinations” is not a clear Class 39 subject matter because it could refer to providing reviews of the hotels in travel destinations (Class 43), recreational activities in travel destinations (Class 41), restaurants in travel destinations (Class 43). 

 

With respect to the second recitation of services listed above, is the applicant providing information and news about travel service providers? If so, the services are indefinite and should be clarified, as it is unclear whether, for example, this wording refers to Class 35 business information and news about travel service providers or to Class 39 travel-related information about the same.

 

The examining attorney provides the following suggestions:

 

Providing reviews of travel service providers for commercial purposes in International Class 35; and/or

 

Providing reviews of transportation options for travel tours in International Class 39;

 

Providing reviews of events and entertainment for travel tours in International Class 41;

 

Providing reviews of hotels and restaurants for travel tours in International Class 43.

 

The applicant should note that this application was returned to the examining attorney.  The examining attorney has reviewed the recitations in the entire application and believes the language to be acceptable; however, in applications with long lists of services and multiple classes errors are more common.

 

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 may amend the identification to clarify or limit the goods and/or services, but not to broaden or expand the goods and/or services beyond those in the original application or as acceptably amended.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); TMEP §1402.06.  Generally, any deleted goods and/or services may not later be reinserted.  See TMEP §1402.07(e).

 

Partial Abandonment Advisory

If applicant does not respond to this Office action within the six-month period for response, the following goods and/or services in International Class(es) 39 will be deleted from the application:  “providing reviews of travel destinations and travel tours via computer networks and global information networks” and “providing information, news, and reviews of travel service providers”.  The application will then proceed with the services for which no amendments have been suggested in International Class(es) 9, 35, 38, 39, 41, and 43.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a)-(a)(1); TMEP §718.02(a).

 

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.

 

Please call or email the assigned trademark examining attorney with questions about this Office action.  Although an examining attorney cannot provide legal advice, the examining attorney can provide additional explanation about the refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) in this Office action.  See TMEP §§705.02, 709.06. 

 

The USPTO does not accept emails as responses to Office actions; however, emails can be used for informal communications and are included in the application record.  See 37 C.F.R. §§2.62(c), 2.191; TMEP §§304.01-.02, 709.04-.05. 

 

 

 

 

/Dawn Feldman Lehker/

Trademark Examining Attorney

U.S. Patent and Trademark  Office

Law Office 111

(571)272-9381

dawn.feldman-lehker@uspto.gov

 

 

RESPONSE GUIDANCE

• Missing the response deadline to this letter will cause the application to abandon.  A response or notice of appeal must be received by the USPTO before midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response period.  TEAS and ESTTA maintenance or unforeseen circumstances could affect an applicant’s ability to timely respond.  

 

• Responses signed by an unauthorized party are not accepted and can cause the application to abandon.  If applicant does not have an attorney, the response must be signed by the individual applicant, all joint applicants, or someone with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant.  If applicant has an attorney, the response must be signed by the attorney.

 

• If needed, find contact information for the supervisor of the office or unit listed in the signature block.

 

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

 

USPTO OFFICIAL NOTICE

 

Office Action (Official Letter) has issued

on March 12, 2020 for

U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88756185

 

Your trademark application has been reviewed by a trademark examining attorney.  As part of that review, the assigned attorney has issued an official letter that you must respond to by the specified deadline or your application will be abandoned.  Please follow the steps below.

 

(1)  Read the official letter.

 

(2)  Direct questions about the contents of the Office action to the assigned attorney below. 

 

 

/Dawn Feldman Lehker/

Trademark Examining Attorney

U.S. Patent and Trademark  Office

Law Office 111

(571)272-9381

dawn.feldman-lehker@uspto.gov

 

Direct questions about navigating USPTO electronic forms, the USPTO website, the application process, the status of your application, and/or whether there are outstanding deadlines or documents related to your file to the Trademark Assistance Center (TAC).

 

(3)  Respond within 6 months (or earlier, if required in the Office action) from March 12, 2020, using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).  The response must be received by the USPTO before midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the response period.  See the Office action for more information about how to respond

 

 

 

GENERAL GUIDANCE

·         Check the status of your application periodically in the Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) database to avoid missing critical deadlines.

 

·         Update your correspondence email address, if needed, to ensure you receive important USPTO notices about your application.

 

·         Beware of misleading notices sent by private companies about your application.  Private companies not associated with the USPTO use public information available in trademark registrations to mail and email trademark-related offers and notices – most of which require fees.  All official USPTO correspondence will only be emailed from the domain “@uspto.gov.”