To: | Google LLC (tmdocket@google.com) |
Subject: | U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88922688 - OPEN USAGE COMMONS - GT-1573-US-1 |
Sent: | September 14, 2020 11:27:08 AM |
Sent As: | ecom124@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 |
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Office Action (Official Letter) About Applicant’s Trademark Application
U.S. Application Serial No. 88922688
Mark: OPEN USAGE COMMONS
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Correspondence Address:
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Applicant: Google LLC
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Reference/Docket No. GT-1573-US-1
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: September 14, 2020
This application was approved for publication on August 3, 2020. See 37 C.F.R. §2.80. However, approval of the application has been withdrawn to address the issues below. See TMEP §706.01. The trademark examining attorney apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause applicant.
Section 2(e)(1) Refusal – Merely Descriptive
Only where the combination of descriptive terms creates a unitary mark with a unique, incongruous, or otherwise nondescriptive meaning in relation to the goods and/or services is the combined mark registrable. See In re Colonial Stores, Inc., 394 F.2d 549, 551, 157 USPQ 382, 384 (C.C.P.A. 1968); In re Positec Grp. Ltd., 108 USPQ2d 1161, 1162-63 (TTAB 2013).
In this case, both the individual components and the composite result are descriptive of applicant’s goods and/or services and do not create a unique, incongruous, or nondescriptive meaning in relation to the goods and/or services. Specifically, the wording OPEN means “Of or relating to a file that can be accessed” and the wording USAGE means “The act, manner, or amount of using; use”. Please see attached dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. The wording COMMONS is a term in widespread use for material shared on the Internet. Please see attached definition from Wikipedia.org. In addition, please see attached excerpts from the websites of Creative Commons and Open Data Commons that show that the wording COMMONS is used to refer to widespread use of material shared on the Internet in the industry. Therefore, the combination of the words immediately indicates that applicant’s services are related to the free utilization (“open usage”) of software or other technology on the internet (digital “commons”), typically with the goal of maximizing social benefits rather than impose costs through licenses.
Therefore, the applied-for mark is merely descriptive of applicant’s services.
Please note, the previously provided disclaimer is no longer appropriate and should be withdrawn.
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.
How to respond. Click to file a response to this nonfinal Office action.
Janet Lee
/Janet H. Lee/
Trademark Examining Attorney
Law Office 124
Phone: (571) 272-1053
Email: janet.lee6@uspto.gov
RESPONSE GUIDANCE