Did you know? USPTO status "Non-Final Action - Mailed"

What does "Non-Final Action -  Mailed" mean?

A Non-Final Office Action is a Letter prepared by an Examining Attorney of the United States Trademark Office after reviewing the application for the first time. A time limit to respond to the Office Action is usually within 6 months from the mailing date noted on the Office Action unless otherwise mentioned.

In other words, The United States Patent and Trademark Office cannot at this time register the trademark application. [Please note, this is not a an outright rejection] They are requesting further information, evidence and/or proof in order to move forward with the trademark registration process. 

Popular Misconception:

1.  "This isn't a big deal..." Yes it is! Look below!!

Is this Status update important, do I have to follow up with anything?

Yes, this status update is VERY important. If you do not respond to the USPTO within the 6 month deadline period, your trademark application will become abandoned!


Why Trademarks Go Abandoned because of an Office Action Letter:

1. Top Reason They simply miss the letter...unfortunately the USPTO doesn't send you friendly reminders :(
2. The trademark applicant does not know what an Office Action Letter is...or what to do with it. So they let the trademark application go expired.  
3. A trademark applicant reads the letter, gets confused by the legal formalities, and think the USPTO rejected their application, so they do not bother to even try responding to the letter.

If this happens to you, please consult an expert trademark attorney to assist you!

Click here, to go back to the menu and find other explanations of common USPTO status's.

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Read the latest Trademarkia Blog Posts here:

International House of Pancakes vs. Prayer IHO(Pancakes) vs. IHO(Prayer)

National Trademark Expo 2010

Did you know? USPTO status "New Application: Record Initialized Not Assigned to an Examiner"

What does "New Application: Record Initialized Not Assigned to an Examiner" mean?

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, may take about a year to fully register a trademark, during which time the trademark application goes through a series of steps, and this status informs the applicant of the first step.

Popular Misconceptions:

1.  "I have a Serial Number so that means I have a registered trademark!" Not exactly.  An assigned Serial Number indicates that you have initiated an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. All properly submitted trademark applications begin with having a "record initialized" with the USPTO. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will receive U.S. federal registration in the end, the USPTO is simplyacknowledging the existence of the trademark application. 
• *Note* A trademark with this status, is not 'done' becoming registered with the USPTO.
• *Note* Only a "Registered" status means that you have a registered U.S. federal trademark with the USPTO.
2. "Not assigned to an Examiner?? When will they start reviewing it?!" Don't worry and don't fret, the USPTO must first log the trademark application into their system before they can assign it to a trademark examiner for review. That is normally the next step.
• *Note* If you use the paper filing method, it may take 2 weeks to receive a serial number.

Is this Status update important, do I have to follow up with anything?

Yes, this status is meaningful in the sense that it informs the trademark applicant that the USPTO has received their trademark application and assigned a serial number. However, it is simply a notice to you, and does not require any follow up at the time.

• You can use the ™ symbol to stand for your brand name in commerce. 

Click here, to go back to the menu and find other explanations of common USPTO status 

(See latest filed trademarks with the US. Patent and Trademark Office directly on the Trademarkia homepage!)

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Read the latest Trademarkia Blog Post here: How the West was won USC vs. USC

See the Trademarkia Team in Washington, DC for the 2010 International Trademark Association Admin Conference!

USPTO Status's Explained

Look out for a blog posts this week about common USPTO status updates, what they are, and why they may or may not be important to you.

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This is a menu post to find all of the individual blog posts hyperlinked to each other:
(No link, means that it has not been posted yet, but will be)

New Application - Record Initialized Not Assigned to Examiner

Non-Final Action - Mailed

(See latest filed trademarks with the US. Patent and Trademark Office directly on the Trademarkia homepage!)

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Read the latest Trademarkia Blog Post's here:
Apple Needs a Lesson in Deja Vu
Is the USPTO an "enemy" for Facebook?
Trademarkia attends TechCrunch Discrupt 2010
Twitter Won't Let You Fly Away With It's Bird

Thursday Night Roundup - Edition 4: THE TRADEMARKIA TELEGRAPH Anniversary Special

September 15^th– Starting today, Trademarkia will post a monthly company newsletter on the Trademarkia Blog with top Trademarkia news and information.

TOP STORY : September 13^th - Trademarkia’s Legal Notice Publication Service for Common Law Rights Launches Today
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA–(Marketwire - September 13, 2010) - Trademarkia.com (www.trademarkia.com) announces a legal notice publication service for common law rights. The service enables attorneys and businesses to publish legal notices of business names, logos, and slogans directly on the Trademarkia website.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRADEMARKIA – September 15th

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TRADEMARKIA! LET THE NEXT YEAR BE AS SWEET AS THE LAST!
TechCrunch – Trademarkia first launches at TechCrunch50 2009 one year ago.

Are You a Success Story? – August 25^th
Official Trademarkia Blog - This is a wonderful opportunity to provide inspiration and education to others who are looking to make a success of their brand. There are so many ways to achieve your business dreams. Your story could benefit similar people who are looking to make their goals a reality.
Join the discussion on Facebook!

Did you know? Common Trademark Mistakes and Myths – September 9th
The Insider’s Guide: Do you really think you understand trademark law?

Warmest Regards,
The Trademarkia Team

Trademarkia's Legal Notice Publication Service for Common Law Rights Launches Today

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - September 13, 2010) -  Trademarkia.com (http://www.trademarkia.com) announces a legal notice publication service for common law rights. The service enables attorneys and businesses to publish legal notices of business names, logos, and slogans directly on the Trademarkia website.

Typically, common law searches have relied on searches in phone directories, yellow pages, industrial directories, or state trademark registers. Now, businesses, large and small, can go a step further and proactively publish their common law rights on Trademarkia.com.

Trademarkia.com is one of the largest law related websites on the Internet, receiving more than 1,500,000 page views per month, and approximately one new visitor every 5 seconds of the day from more than 150 countries around the world each day. In addition, common law rights published on Trademarkia often appear on the world's largest search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

In the United States, "Federal registration is not required to establish rights in a trademark," according to the USPTO's website. "Common law rights arise from actual use of a mark. Generally, the first to either use a mark in commerce or file an intent to use application with the Patent and Trademark Office has the ultimate right to use and registration." By publishing a legal notice of common law rights through Trademarkia, common law rights will be searchable and published on Trademarkia next to registered U.S. and foreign marks.

Attorneys and businesses will find Trademarkia's new service to be an important tool in establishing control over their names, logos and slogans. By publishing on Trademarkia.com, businesses and attorneys can place a large number of potential infringers on constructive notice that their trademarks are already being used in commerce and are not available.

About Trademarkia
Trademarkia is the largest, free visual search engine of trademarks in the world. For more information on Trademarkia's publication service for common law rights, see: http://www.trademarkia.com/trademark/trademark-publication.aspx.

Media Contacts:
Maria Orlova
Email Contact

[Distributed by MarketWire]

Did you know? Common Trademark Mistakes and Myths

Do you really think you understand Trademark law?

By Maria Orlova

Few know the true advantage of registering a trademark. Most believe it unnecessary, exclaiming “I have a unique name no one else has!” Orville Wright once said, “If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance”. Mr. Wright, is right, too many times have I heard stories of people losing their business because someone has taken their trademark name. Whether you are a huge corporation, or a small mom-and-pop store, a trademark is important towards your protecting your brand.

If you have an established business, then you have common law trademark rights. The ™ symbol can be used to stand for your brand name in commerce. However, a U.S. federal trademark registration does hold more benefits, like potential damages if someone infringes on your trademark rights. Many businesses globalize they're product or company, in this case it is especially important to register with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) because registering a trademark in the U.S. can be used as a basis for obtaining registration in foreign countries. With a trademark or legal notice, the public is put on notice, of the ownerships rights to a name, logo and/or slogan in the classification of goods & services they filed under.

One can be in violation of trademark infringement for a number of reasons. The most common incidence is when an individual uses a brand name in commerce identical or similarly confusing to a trademark owned by another party. "But were totally different!" Be honest.Take a perspective from the consumers point of view, if a name sounds, looks, then it may confuse the customer of the origin of the product or service. The USPTO would send an Office Action letter to a trademark applicant if the new application posed a likelihood of confusion to the consumer.

Okay, perhaps you do not have the funds for a U.S. federal trademark ($325 per application, per classification; plus third party preparation costs) Do not be ignorant of existing trademarks, do your research.  Many times, trademark infringement occurs innocently, where someone was simply not aware that they were in violation of another party’s trademark. At least check to see if you are infringing on anyone else's trademark rights! Trademarkia.com allows users to freely search the U.S. federal trademark database directly on the homepage.

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Maria Orlova is the Publicity and Media Relations Specialist for Trademarkia (www.trademarkia.com). She also contributes to the Trademarkia Blog (http://blog.trademarkia.com/) and Twitter (@Trademarkia). 

http://sincere.ly/yours/mariaorlovatm/

Did you know? Facebook Intellectual Property

Did you know that you can stop someone from using your trademark on facebook? For example if an individual were to try and take the username "JoeysClothing", if that name is trademarked then the trademark owner may file a notice of intellectual property infringement form on Facebook.

Taken from the Facebook Copyright Policy page:

How to Report Claims of Intellectual Property Infringement

Facebook is committed to protecting the intellectual property of third parties. On this page, rights holders will find information regarding how to report copyright and other intellectual property infringements by users posting content on our website, and answers to some frequently asked questions regarding our policies.

If you are a user concerned about the removal of your content, you may file a counter-notice. You can do so through the email notification you received, or in the warning at the top of your home page.

If you are a user concerned about the security of your account, please visit our Security Help Page.

How to report claims of copyright infringement by users

To report a copyright infringement by a Facebook user, all you need to do is fill out our automated DMCA form. This form is the fastest way to report a copyright infringement. Although we will review reports in all languages, it will speed our review if you can submit your report in English.

If you prefer, you can also send a DMCA notice to our designated agent (information below).

How to report other claims of intellectual property infringement by users

If you wish to report other claims of intellectual property infringement (i.e. non-copyright) by a Facebook user, all you need to do is fill out ourautomated IP infringement form. We appreciate your cooperation in providing an English translation of your report, when possible.

Facebook © 2010

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Trademarkia is currently in the process of creating a social media user name check for you to search over 500+ popular social media sites on the availability of your user name. The ♫ upcoming social media feature on Trademarkia is in beta mode, test it out and let us know your feedback. See: http://www.trademarkia.com/social-media-namecheck.aspx.

Did you know? Trademark Infringement

One can be in violation of trademark infringement for a number of reasons. The most common incidence is when an individual uses a brand name in commerce identical or similarly confusing to a trademark owned by another party. The United States Patent and Trademark Office would send an Office Action letter to a trademark applicant if the new application posed a likelihood of confusion to the consumer.

However, many times, trademark infringement occurs innocently, where the infringer was simply not aware that they were in violation of another party’s trademark. The infringer must comply with a Cease & Desist notice or face legal proceedings.

Over the weekend, two men from Mississippi were in violation of trademark law when they attempted to sell wood as Toshiba brand laptops. More on the story here: http://blog.trademarkia.com/2010/08/02/men-arrested-for-trademark-infringement-for-selling-wood-as-toshiba-laptops/

Trademark Basics

If your not an intellectual property attorney, you probably don't know much about trademarks. Do you know the difference between copyrights, trademarks and patents? If you were to invent the flying car, you would patent the invention. A trademark is used to protect names, logos and slogans; so for example, the company name, brand name and tagline. A copyright is used to protect literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; in this example, the manual to the flying car can be copyrighted.

Frequently asked questions about Trademarks:

• What is a trademark or a service mark?
• Who can apply for a trademark?
• Do I have to register my trademark?
• What are common law trademark rights?
• Can I obtain a U.S. federal trademark registration for anything?
• Can trademark rights be assigned or transferred from one person to another?
• Will registration protect my mark overseas?
• Will I receive a registration if I don't use the mark at all?
• What are Trademark classes?
• What constitutes interstate commerce?
• When can I use ™ or ®?