[E-trademarks] Black Diamond Question Mark �

[Ken Boone]

[Image for 98226210, select for more details]<https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98226210&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch>

A curiosity.  I noticed sometime last year that 98226210 had the word mark entry ESTD. 1593 LAMPERT RUM A?EJO A?OS PRODUCT OF PANAMA and I added that serial number to my list of questionable word marks (which now includes 325 live trademarks).  Viewing the raw application on TSDR, the literal element provided was ESTD. 1593 LAMPERT RUM AÑEJO AÑOS PRODUCT OF PANAMA and my checks indicate that the two occurrences of Ñ are the standard character capital N tilde (decimal 209), so I was surprised that the automatic load of this TEAS filing corrupted the word mark.

On Valentine's Day (February 14th), I noticed that the word mark entry was updated to ESTD. 1593 LAMPERT RUM AEJO A�OS PRODUCT OF PANAMA, not exactly the word mark correction I was anticipating by Pre-Exam when they added design codes to the record (though the word mark entry no longer includes the ordinary question mark{?}).  The good news: the search WD:/.*\�.*/ retrieves only this rum trademark.  TSDR also shows the � character in the description of mark:  The mark consists of a black background featuring the words "Lampert Rum" in gold stylized font across a diagonal red stripe, with a gray lion-like animal on each side of the word "Rum", the words "A�EJO" and "A�OS" in gold below the word "Rum", the phrase "PRODUCT OF PANAMA" below a stylized line, and having a crest with red and gold stripes and two gray castles with gold roofs therein and a gray lamb rising from a gold crown and red and gold flowers atop the crest, the crest being in the middle of the wording "Estd. 1593", all of the foregoing being substantially within a gold border against the black background.  The description of mark in the raw application looks fine.  The 13 February Notice of Design Codes document on TSDR for this application shows ESTD. 1593 LAMPERT RUM AEJO A�OS PRODUCT OF PANAMA (Stylized/Design) as the word mark.  (I would prefer LAMPERT RUM ESTD. 1593 AÑEJO AÑOS PRODUCT OF PANAMA as the word mark since LAMPERT RUM has the largest font in the drawing.)

But what is �?

Among the results of my internet search of "black diamond question mark":
What does a black diamond with a question mark mean?
replacement character �
The replacement character �, a black diamond with a white question mark, is a symbol found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to replace an unknown or unrepresentable character, or indicate problems when a system is not able to render a stream of data to a correct symbol.Oct 28, 2018
For my final search for this � theme, I returned to Basic search mode, selected the Search by all option and searched /.*\�.*/, receiving an additional � record, namely 98226594 (LN LA DÈ NIRVIQUÊ, another mid-October filing) with the following description of mark entry on TSDR:  The mark consists of the wording "La�d�Nirviqu�" in stylized font and the image above the text looks like a shield. The raw application on TSDR has the following description of mark:  The mark consists of the wording "La dè Nirviquê" in stylized font and the image above the text looks like a shield.

Considering that these two � trademarks are October filings, it will probably be several more months before examining attorneys will begin examining these trademarks?

Happy Presidents' Day,
Ken Boone

PS - The null GS phenomenon continues to grow.  The search LD:true NOT (GS:* SN:8900* SN:81* ) currently retrieves 988 trademarks without GS entries, mostly new applications that presumably have to be manually corrected by Pre-Exam.


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