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I'm still checking for unexpected occurrences of the ? question mark character in word mark entries and recently witnessed a curious
<i>correction</i> of a previously blemished word mark entry.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The mark submitted is </span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>µDrive Nexus</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> in standard characters (</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">97836045)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.
Early this year, I noticed that USPTO processing changed the </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>µ</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> into the
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(134, 17, 6);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> question mark character. Then mark was published for opposition on 12 March with that blemished word mark entry
</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>?DRIVE NEXUS</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> as confirmed by the 09 Feb 2024
<i>TRAM Snapshot of App at Pub for Oppostn</i> document on TSDR.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Today, both TSDR and Trademark Search show </span>
<span style="font-size: 18.6667px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>MDRIVE NEXUS</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> as the
<i>corrected </i>word mark, not exactly the correction I was expecting. Why wasn't
</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>µDRIVE NEXUS</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> entered as the corrected word mark? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I consulted an old contact at the USPTO, and here's the explanation provided:
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><i>The USPTO converts word mark entries to UPPER CASE characters, a tradition that traces back to the earliest digital records at the Office. The character
</i></span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><b><i>µ</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><i> is a lower-case Greek character whose corresponding upper case is
</i><b><i>M</i></b><i>. Therefore, </i></span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(12, 100, 192); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><i>MDRIVE NEXUS</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i> is
the preferred word mark entry on USPTO systems for the trademark </i></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><i>µDrive Nexus</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I'll bet you weren't expecting that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then I asked if all word mark entries that include the character</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b> µ</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> would be updated with the substitution of
</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>M</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for
</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>µ</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">? The reply:
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><i>Don't be silly. With the current backlog, the USPTO doesn't have the resources to undertake an effort like that.</i> </span></div>
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Other recent activity for my questionable word mark entries list include:</div>
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<u><img alt="Image for 97342305, select for more details" id="x_image_1" width="421" height="175" style="width: 421px; height: 175px; margin: 0px auto; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" src="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/97342305/large"></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">SN 97342305 had <b>HURAC</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>N TECNICA</b> as the word mark but was recently
corrected to have </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>HURACA'N TECNICA</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> as the word mark. Huh? The single letter
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Á</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> that became
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> was replaced with
</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>A'</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> pair of letters?</span></div>
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<u><img alt="Image for 79392684, select for more details" id="x_image_2" width="260" height="48" style="width: 260px; height: 48px; margin: 0px auto; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" src="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/79392684/large"></u></div>
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SN 79392684, filed 2023-10-11, has <b>JIMMY</b><span style="color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><b>S</b> as the word mark.</div>
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<u><img alt="Image for 97619644, select for more details" id="x_image_5" width="322" height="134" style="width: 322px; height: 134px; margin: 0px auto; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" src="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/97619644/large"></u></div>
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<div class="elementToProof" style="direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">SN 97619644, filed 2022-10-05, now has
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>H</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>KR BR</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>
</b></span>as the word mark.<br>
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<u><img alt="Image for 85818197, select for more details" id="x_image_6" width="348" height="137" style="width: 348px; height: 137px; margin: 0px auto; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" src="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/85818197/large"></u></div>
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<div class="elementToProof" style="direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">SN 85818197, filed 2013-01-08, now has
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>M</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>NCHEN 1972</b></span> as the word mark.<br>
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<u><img alt="Image for 98096461, select for more details" id="x_image_7" style="width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 940px; max-height: 100px; margin: 0px auto; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" src="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/98096461/large"></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">SN 98096461, filed 2023-07-21, now has
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>S</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(200, 38, 19);"><b>?</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>L GLOW</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> as
the word mark.</span></div>
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Happy Trademarking,</p>
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Ken Boone</p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">PS - I currently have 329 marks on my questionable word mark list. The search
<b>WD:/.*\?[a-z0-9].*/ AND LD:true</b> retrieves 304 trademarks, including 218 of the 329 trademarks on my questionable word mark list. Also, I was kidding about that explanation from a USPTO contact about the substitution of M for µ in word mark entries.
April Fools.</span></p>
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