[E-trademarks] Letters of Protest -- required evidence by the protesting party

Wed Jul 17 14:17:09 EDT 2024

Thank you. So, where the client/protestor’s goods read, in whole or in part on the subject application’s goods, or if they’re in the same class, or it’s really just that obvious, would it be sufficient to simply recite the client’s registrations on which the Letter of Protest is based?

Leesa

Leesa N. Weiss
Partner
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9801 Washingtonian Boulevard, Suite 750
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
lweiss at esfip.com
Direct:  240-864-2472
Fax:  301-762-4056

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From: Kevin Grierson <kgrierson at cm.law>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2024 2:10 PM
To: For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Leesa N. Weiss <lweiss at esfip.com>
Subject: RE: Letters of Protest -- required evidence by the protesting party

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Same.  Got this from a successful letter of protest notification (just one mark submitted):

Please note for future submissions, if an objection in a letter of protest is based on a likelihood of confusion with existing federally registered marks or prior-pending applications, protestor need only submit the relevant registration or application serial numbers. Copies of protestor's registration certificates or the electronic equivalent thereof and their respective prosecution histories are not necessary.

I think the paragraph in  1715.05(a) you reference is only talking about evidence of confusion where the goods and services are NOT identical:

If an objection is based on a likelihood of confusion with existing federally registered marks or prior-pending applications, and the goods and/or services are not identical, evidence of the relatedness of the goods and/or services must be included. Such evidence may include advertisements showing that the relevant goods/services are advertised together or sold by the same manufacturer or copies of registrations showing that such goods/services emanate from the same source. Note that a list of registration numbers, a chart containing the registration numbers and identified goods/services, or a copy of a search report is not proper evidence to show the relatedness of the goods or services in the registrations. Rather, copies of the registrations or the electronic equivalent thereof showing current status and title (i.e., printouts or electronic copies taken from the trademark search system or TSDR database of the USPTO) must be submitted.

So I think the idea here is that if you’re going to submit evidence of relatedness of goods or services, you have to show that the third-party marks you’re using are use-based registrations and not 66(a) or 44(e) registrations.
Kevin Grierson

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  757-726-7799<tel:757-726-7799>

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  kgrierson at cm.law<mailto:kgrierson at cm.law>

From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Leesa N. Weiss via E-trademarks
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2024 1:54 PM
To: e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Leesa N. Weiss <lweiss at esfip.com<mailto:lweiss at esfip.com>>
Subject: [E-trademarks] Letters of Protest -- required evidence by the protesting party

EXTERNAL EMAIL

Am I missing something? I recently filed several Letter of Protests (which, ultimately, were accepted with the evidence being forwarded to the respective examiners). The Letters of Protest were all based on likelihood of confusion issues.

TMEP Section 1715.05(a) states:  “Note that a list of registration numbers, a chart containing the registration numbers and identified goods/services, or a copy of a search report is not proper evidence to show the relatedness of the goods or services in the registrations. Rather, copies of the registrations or the electronic equivalent thereof showing current status and title (i.e., printouts or electronic copies taken from the trademark search system or TSDR database of the USPTO) must be submitted.” So, I’ve submitted TSDR printouts of the client’s (protestor’s) registrations (no more than 5 registrations), along with the required index. I did not submit copies of the actual Certificates of Registration.

The notifications from the PTO advising that the Letter of Protest has been accepted now state:  “In addition, copies of the protestor’s own registration certificates or the electronic equivalent thereof are not necessary.”
The TMEP appears to be telling me one thing, while the Attorney Advisor issuing the notification is telling me something else. Which is correct? If I don’t have to go through the exercise of downloading copies of the client’s registrations as supporting evidence, that would be a great timesaver.

Thanks, in advance.

Leesa

Leesa N. Weiss
Partner
[cid:image005.png at 01DAD853.BECDBB50]
9801 Washingtonian Boulevard, Suite 750
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
lweiss at esfip.com<mailto:lweiss at esfip.com>
Direct:  240-864-2472
Fax:  301-762-4056

Information contained within this email and its attachments, if any, may be confidential and/or privileged. This email is intended to be reviewed only by the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, please be aware that any review, dissemination, or copying of the information contained within this email and its attachments, if any, is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify me by return email and delete this email from your system.
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