Month: August 2019

Trademark Letter of Protest Evidence Checklist

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This post contains “best practice guidelines” for submitting a trademark Letter of Protest to support a refusal. Pat Protester worked directly with USPTO to develop the trademark Letter of Protest evidence guidelines in this post. (Dave Cadoff has an excellent post on How to File Letters of Protest Against Frivolous Trademarks at Merch Informer, showing … Read more

USPTO Audits

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USPTO apparently audits registrations! The screenshot is hard to read, so here’s what it says: The USPTO is performing random audits of US trademark registrations to assess and promote the accuracy and integrity of the trademark register. See 37 C.F.R. §§2.161(h), 7.37(h). This registration has been randomly selected for audit to determine whether the mark … Read more

UPDATE: Trademark Letter of Protest Examples: Class 035

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FRIVOLOUS TRADEMARKS:  IC 35 Letter of Protest update:  My Dog Mom Letter of Protest was dismissed in part and denied in part:  1) a “failure-to-function — widely used message” refusal was already issued, so my protest on that basis is moot (irrelevant);  2) my “premature claim of use in commerce” objection is denied — a … Read more

Failure to Function Example

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Love it! Here’s a great example of a term’s failure to function without widespread use on goods. This is a big deal, because in the Merch By Amazon fight against frivolous trademarks, USPTO has typically denied Letters of Protest that did not include evidence of many competing products. But widespread use in the marketplace is … Read more

LOP Examples: Class 035 Update

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FRIVOLOUS TRADEMARKS:  IC 35 Letter of Protest update:  My Dog Mom Letter of Protest was dismissed in part and denied in part:  1) a “failure-to-function — widely used message” refusal was already issued, so my protest on that basis is moot (irrelevant);  2) my “premature claim of use in commerce” objection is denied — a … Read more

Trademark Failure to Function Example: Widespread Use (#MAGICNUMBER108)

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Love it! Here’s a great example of a term’s failure to function without widespread use on goods. This is a big deal, because in the Merch By Amazon fight against questionable trademarks, USPTO has typically denied Letters of Protest that did not include evidence of many competing products. But widespread use in the marketplace is … Read more