[E-trademarks] Determining Whether Specimen Matches Drawing Based on Line Breaks

Wed Jan 31 08:17:40 EST 2024

Spencer,

Putting aside potential issues involving commercial impression (THE RAPIST vs. THERAPIST), which you say are inapplicable to your situation, I believe your examining attorney is correct that your applied-for mark is not a substantially exact representation of the mark on the specimen.  However, you could likely amend your mark to add the space.  See In re Innovative Cos., LLC, 88 U.S.P.Q.2d 1095 (T.T.A.B. 2008) (finding applied-for mark FREEDOMSTONE not a substantially exact representation of mark FREEDOM STONE on specimen, but permitting applicant’s amendment of the mark to FREEDOM STONE because not a material alteration).

Best,
Michael

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From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Spencer Cross via E-trademarks
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2024 7:56 PM
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Cc: Spencer Cross <spencer at counselforcreators.com>; For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Subject: Re: [E-trademarks] Determining Whether Specimen Matches Drawing Based on Line Breaks

Agreed, but safe to assume that's not the case here and the EA doesn't make any argument that the commercial impression is different. His entire analysis is "The mark on the specimen does not mat
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Agreed, but safe to assume that's not the case here and the EA doesn't make any argument that the commercial impression is different. His entire analysis is "The mark on the specimen does not match the mark in the drawing because the specimen shows the term "ALPHA" over the term "BETA," indicating a space between both terms."

Best,
Spencer

On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 4:31 PM Weitzmanip <rstraussman at weitzmanip.com<mailto:rstraussman at weitzmanip.com>> wrote:
A space could make a difference depending on the commercial impressions of each. Consider:

THERAPIST   vs  THE RAPIST

Not the same connotation, is it?

On Jan 30, 2024, at 7:16 PM, Spencer Cross via E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>> wrote:

Hi all,

We recently received a "specimen does not match the drawing" refusal where we applied for the mark as a compound word mark:

ALPHABETA

But the specimen, which is a screen capture of a website, uses a logo design that shows the two words stacked:

ALPHA
BETA

Everywhere else on the site the mark is used as a compound word on one line (e.g., in the copyright notice in the footer). Unfortunately, it's a relatively sparse site and none of those other uses are great options for a specimen.

That refusal seems inappropriate to me. I can't imagine, for example, that a specimen depicting the vertically stacked red LEVI'S tag would be refused because it shows the mark as "L E V I ' S" or that a specimen for SUPERCELL showing their logo<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/supercell.com/en/for-media/__;!!NROYQQ!atLCCbr6ch7dJUcZZ71UQop3jdX81cIHXUdfjONZJiszS_oxSgw0f9fqXlN6wORpBu8z5YDzitVGlvl2a66lO8DnTieux_TD$> would be refused for showing the mark as "SUP ERC ELL".

Before we talk to the client about revising their website, I'm curious if anyone knows of any authority addressing whether it's appropriate to conclude a standard character mark is two separate words based on its design expression? Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything in TMEP or McCarthy or my other go-to secondary sources, all of which only address mismatches in punctuation. I assume in the end it will be easier to just ask the client to update the website, but I'd rather not capitulate because I don't think it's an appropriate refusal.

Feel free to send responses off-list if you prefer.

Thanks,
Spencer

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