More than 300,000 trademarks are submitted annually with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). An extremely high portion of those trademarks submitted with the USPTO get an "Office Action." An Office Action is an initial rejection. It is a notification to the applicant that the USPTO examiner evaluating the trademark application has made a decision that there is some problem with the proposed trademark or the trademark application which would bar registration if not effectively attended to.
Kind Of Trademark Office Actions
Trademark Office Actions, or initial refusals, are usually broken into 2 classifications. Non-substantive Office Actions are those initial refusals that handle an easily-addressed technicality. For instance, it is typical for the trademark examiner to disagree with a candidate's description of items or services and to need that the candidate clarify the description of items or services or consist of more definitive statements about just what the applicant means to offer under the proposed trademark. Other examples of non-substantive Office Actions include those initial rejections in which the trademark examiner challenge the specimen or drawing sent by the applicant. The trademark inspector, might, for instance, disagree with that the specimen cannot reveal that the proposed trademark is in fact working as a trademark. The examiner may also refuse a trademark application if the inspector finds that the drawing does not match the specimen. These are non-substantive office actions since they do not challenge the registerability of the trademark itself.
Substantive Office Actions, on the other hand, are those initial refusals in which the trademark examiner challenges the trademark's capacity for registration. Throughout the trademark evaluation process, the trademark inspector is required to perform trademark conflict searches to ensure that the proposed trademark is not confusingly just like other pending or signed up trademarks at the USPTO. The inspector likewise reviews the proposed trademark to guarantee that it does not simply explain the items or services sold under the trademark which the trademark is not merely a surname or the name of a geographic area connected with the products or service. If, throughout the inspector's clearance browses the inspector locates trademarks that are confusingly just like the proposed trademark, the inspector will release a 2( d) Office Action (or a Confusingly Similar Office Action). Such a substantive 2( d) Office Action will identify the trademark( s) that the trademark inspector thinks is conflicting and summary why the inspector believes that the trademarks are confusingly comparable. Likewise, if the trademark office discovers that the proposed trademark simply describes the products or services used under the trademark the trademark office will release a 2( e) Office Action (also referred to as a simply descriptive Office Action). In such a refusal the USPTO examiner will discuss why, in the inspector's viewpoint, the trademark is "simply detailed."
Exactly what to do when you get an Office Action
As kept in mind above, a really high percentage of USPTO trademarks have Office Actions issued versus them at some point during the registration process-- so do not worry! Once you get a trademark Office Action, the primary step is to mark your calendar with the suitable due date. For a lot of Office Actions, you will have 6 months throughout which to submit a reaction and address the concerns raised by the trademark office. Next, identify whether it is a substantive office action or a non-substantive office action. Keep in mind that it is fairly common for Office Actions to include both substantive and non-substantive problems.
The non-substantive concerns in Office Actions are usually addressed with a minor change or with the submission of brand-new or revised products (such as a new specimen or a modified illustration). Substantive Office Actions (such as 2(d) refusals or descriptiveness Office Actions) are dealt with by submitting arguments to encourage the trademark office to permit registration of the proposed trademark. Office Action actions for substantive trademark refusals resemble legal briefs-- they include arguments but also include looked into case-law and other trademark case examples to boost and support the applicant's argument that registration of the proposed trademark should be permitted.
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