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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/11/2025 11:45 PM, a listserv
member wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:68c3b361.050a0220.1391e6.62bc@mx.google.com">
I have a client who bought an apparel company whose trademark is
the name of the company's founder -- let's say "BJ".<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>Sounds like what needed to happen, before the client handed over
the money to buy the company, is somebody making sure that part of
what was being bought was a piece of paper that addressed this
situation. Part of the due diligence (before handing over the
money) should have been:</p>
<ul>
<li>checking to see whether BJ is still alive; and</li>
<li>if BJ is still alive, obtaining from BJ a written promise to
sign any and all needed trademark-related documents in the
future.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sounds like the money got handed over without this having been
done. So now (in addition to looking to see who should have done
the due diligence) the question is how to get some newly filed US
trademark application for "BJ" to get approved for pub.</p>
<p>I guess an urgent task is to check to see whether BJ is still
alive. If not, then just preserve proof of lack-of-life and tell
the Examiner that "BJ" is not the name of a living individual.
Problem solved.</p>
<p>If BJ is still alive but is likely to die within six months, one
approach would be to file a priority case in some non-US trademark
office, then at the appropriate time, file the US case, claiming
priority from the priority case.</p>
<p>Now comes the archaeology task. We locate the purchase-and-sell
agreement. We scrutinize it from top to bottom. Surely it
contains a "cleanup" section, something along the lines of:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After Closing Date, Seller promises to execute any and all
documents required to effectuate the terms and conditions of
this Purchase-and Sell agreement.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Except that hopefully it also said "... BJ and Seller promise
...". Or maybe the agreement has a definitions section that
defines "Seller" to mean "BJ and Seller Entity and their
successors-in-interest" or whatever made sense at the time. It
would also help if, for example, the purchase-and-sell agreement
called for some of the closing money to go to BJ personally.</p>
<p>So anyway, depending on the results of the archaeology, maybe one
or more of the following might make the problem go away:</p>
<ul>
<li>just asking Seller nicely might prompt Seller to round up the
needed signature from BJ to get this single application past the
refusal; or</li>
<li>just asking Seller nicely might prompt Seller to round up the
signature from BJ on a document that is worded not only to get
this single application past the refusal but that also addresses
any and all future applications; or</li>
<li>simply filing with the Trademark Office the purchase-and-sale
agreement including the "cleanup" section (in lieu of the
signature from BJ) along with appropriate explanation might
conceivably prompt the Examiner to withdraw the refusal; or</li>
<li>filing with the Trademark Office the purchase-and-sale
agreement, along with proof that you asked the Seller nicely and
that the Seller has not (to date) provided the needed cleanup
document.</li>
</ul>
<p>Path number 4 might work even if the Seller never actually rounds
up the needed signature. Two documents land on the desk of the
Examiner -- a first document that says (more or less) that if you
ask the Seller nicely, they have to do the cleanup. A second
document that says you asked the Seller nicely and so on.</p>
<p>And then the Examiner concludes that even if you </p>
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