Offc Action Outgoing

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

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

 

 

 

FINAL 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) and/or Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA).  A link to the appropriate TEAS response form and/or to ESTTA for an appeal appears at the end of this Office action. 

 

 

Issue date:  November 10, 2020

 

This final Office action responds to applicant’s correspondence dated October 20, 2020.

 

The following refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) has/have been withdrawn, obviated or satisfied: 1) multi-class application requirements. TMEP §§713.02, 714.04.

 

The following refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) are now made FINAL for the reasons set forth below. 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b).

 

ACCEPTABLE IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS AND/OR SERVICES REQUIRED

 

Applicant has elected to use wording in the proposed amendment to the identification of goods and/or services that is not found in the U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual.  The wording that applicant has chosen to use instead does not meet the standards set forth in the Manual and is unacceptable.  Specifically, the following underlined wording in the identification of goods and/or services is indefinite and must be clarified as set forth below.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(6); TMEP §1402.01. The exact nature of the goods and/or services cannot be determined from this wording. 

 

Class 9

Audio books in the field of fiction and non-fiction [The subject matter of the books must be specified as noted in the ID Manual, for example, non-fiction audio books on a variety of topics.]  

 

Class 41

Publishing of audio books, Production of podcasts, Audio drama for the production of audio books [The type of service intended by the wording “audio drama” must be specified as noted in the previous Office action, for example, as noted in the ID Manual, “radio entertainment production featuring ___.]

 

 

Applicant must amend this wording to specify the common commercial or generic name of the goods and/or services.  See TMEP §1402.01.  If the goods have no common commercial or generic name, applicant must describe the goods and/or services as well as their main purpose, channels of trade, and the intended consumer(s).  See TMEP §1402.01.

 

For assistance with identifying and classifying goods and/or services in trademark applications, please see the USPTO’s online searchable U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual at http://tess2.gov.uspto.report/netahtml/tidm.html.  See TMEP §1402.04.

 

An applicant may only amend an identification to clarify or limit the goods and/or services, but not to add to or broaden the scope of the goods and/or services.  37 C.F.R. §2.71(a); see TMEP §§1402.06 et seq., 1402.07.

 

It is the applicant’s duty to identify the goods and/or services, and any goods and/or services deleted from the application by amendment may not be reinserted at a later point in prosecution.  TMEP §1402.01(e). 

 

Applicant may find acceptable identification wording by: 1) using the sample wording provided in the Identification Manual for this purpose; 2) researching the Register for wording that has recently been accepted by the Office and is consistent with the current rules governing identifications; 3) using wording that is the common name widely used in the relevant industry or trade; or 4) drafting wording that otherwise complies with the requirements described in the Code of Federal Regulations as exemplified by the entries in the Identification Manual. 

 

RESPONSE GUIDELINES FOR FINAL OFFICE ACTIONS

                       

Applicant must respond within six months of the date of issuance of this final Office action or the application will be abandoned in part as explained below.  15 U.S.C. §1062(b); 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a).  Applicant may respond by providing one or both of the following:

 

(1)       A request for reconsideration that fully resolves all outstanding requirements and refusals; and/or

 

(2)       An appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board with the required filing fees.

 

TMEP §715.01; see 37 C.F.R. §2.63(b)(1)-(2).

 

If applicant does not respond to this Office action within the six-month period for response, the goods and/or services underlined and discussed above will be deleted from the application.  The application will then proceed with the remaining goods and/or services only.  See 37 C.F.R. §2.65(a)-(a)(1); TMEP §718.02(a).

 

How to respond.  Click to file a request for reconsideration of this final Office action that fully resolves all outstanding requirements and refusals and/or click to file a timely appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) with the required filing fee(s).

 

 

/Edward Fennessy/

Attorney Advisor

Law Office 114

571-272-8804

Edward.Fennessy@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 November 10, 2020 for

U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88959516

 

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. 

 

 

/Edward Fennessy/

Attorney Advisor

Law Office 114

571-272-8804

Edward.Fennessy@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 November 10, 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.”