[E-trademarks] Pre-Examination Unit wait time

[Ken Boone]

Continuing my analyses of trademarks that apparently were skipped by Pre-Exam for valid mark drawing code entries ...

The search LD:true AND FD:[* TO 20240208] AND SN:79* AND MD:( 0 unknown ) retrieves 112 Madrid filings over 8 months old (by filing date provided by IB) that still have the UNKNOWN mark drawing code; however, the first 11 (in decreasing serial number order) were received at the USPTO last Thursday (10/3/24), so they are just a week old today, within the advertised 7 day Pre-Exam processing time.  Trademarks 12 through 112 below have been at the USPTO at least 3 weeks, but Pre-Exam apparently has yet to provide valid Mark Drawing Code entries for those filings.  That is, the last 101 Madrid filings listed below have been at the USPTO for over 3 weeks, but the USPTO claims the processing time for Madrid application average just one week.

#
SN
FiledDate
Received
Comment
1
79405897
2024-01-26
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
2
79405723
2024-01-24
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
3
79405710
2024-01-16
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
4
79405674
2023-12-07
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
5
79405668
2024-01-31
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
6
79405667
2023-10-03
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
7
79405660
2024-02-07
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
8
79405622
2023-12-22
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
9
79405621
2023-10-25
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
10
79405614
2021-01-05
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
11
79405450
2023-05-26
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
12
79404745
2023-12-06
19-Sep-24
3 weeks @ USPTO
13
79401034
2023-12-19
25-Jul-24
14
79399770
2024-01-18
11-Jul-24
15
79398769
2023-10-23
27-Jun-24
16
79398230
2024-02-07
17
79398226
2024-02-07
18
79398181
2023-12-04
19
79395981
2024-02-08
20
79395957
2024-02-06
21
79395504
2024-01-31
22
79395498
2024-02-01
23
79394993
2024-01-03
24
79394530
2024-01-15
25
79391552
2024-01-19
26
79391549
2023-12-07
27
79391545
2024-02-02
28
79391544
2024-02-02
29
79391543
2024-02-06
30
79391536
2023-12-08
31
79391535
2024-02-06
32
79391532
2024-01-26
33
79391530
2024-01-15
34
79391529
2023-12-01
35
79391527
2023-11-06
36
79391526
2024-02-02
37
79391522
2024-02-05
38
79391521
2023-12-14
39
79391518
2024-01-25
40
79391517
2024-02-06
41
79391513
2023-12-22
42
79391511
2024-01-11
43
79391507
2024-01-30
44
79391431
2023-11-10
45
79391128
2024-02-08
46
79391126
2024-01-25
47
79391125
2024-01-26
48
79391123
2024-02-08
49
79391122
2024-02-08
50
79391119
2024-02-02
51
79391118
2024-01-31
52
79391117
2024-01-30
53
79391114
2023-12-13
54
79391112
2024-01-22
55
79391111
2024-02-05
56
79391110
2024-02-06
57
79391109
2024-02-08
58
79391108
2024-01-09
59
79391107
2024-02-07
60
79391106
2024-02-01
61
79391105
2024-02-02
62
79391104
2023-11-11
63
79390676
2024-01-26
64
79390675
2024-02-05
65
79390674
2023-12-20
66
79390673
2023-12-20
67
79390672
2024-01-24
68
79390671
2024-02-07
69
79390670
2024-02-07
70
79390669
2024-02-06
71
79390668
2024-01-23
72
79390667
2024-01-26
73
79390666
2024-02-07
74
79390665
2024-02-07
75
79390664
2024-01-26
76
79390663
2024-02-01
77
79390662
2024-02-01
78
79390661
2024-01-31
79
79390660
2024-01-31
80
79390659
2024-01-24
81
79390658
2024-01-05
82
79390657
2024-02-01
83
79390656
2024-02-01
84
79390655
2024-02-06
85
79390654
2024-02-06
86
79390653
2024-02-02
87
79390652
2024-02-06
88
79390651
2024-02-06
89
79390650
2024-02-05
90
79390649
2024-02-02
91
79390648
2024-01-26
92
79390647
2024-01-30
93
79390646
2024-01-22
94
79390645
2024-02-06
95
79390643
2024-01-26
96
79390642
2024-01-26
97
79390641
2024-02-06
98
79390639
2024-01-22
99
79390638
2024-02-02
100
79390637
2024-02-06
101
79390636
2024-01-30
102
79390635
2024-01-15
103
79390634
2024-01-26
104
79390633
2024-02-02
105
79390632
2024-01-25
106
79390631
2024-01-26
107
79390630
2024-01-17
108
79390629
2024-01-18
109
79390628
2024-02-06
110
79390627
2024-02-06
111
79390295
2024-01-29
112
79382531
2023-07-17

The search LD:true AND FD:[* TO 20240208] AND MD:( 0 unknown ) NOT SN:(79* 89*) retrieves 18 live non-Madrid trademarks over 8 months old that still have the UNKNOWN mark drawing code - that Pre-Exam apparently has yet to complete providing valid Mark Drawing Code entries for those filings, though some older registrations in the 81-series are among those search results.

#
SN
FiledDate
Comment
1
98377127
2024-01-26
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
2
98374581
2024-01-25
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
3
98346587
2024-01-08
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
4
98185711
2023-09-18
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
5
98183363
2023-09-17
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
6
98183254
2023-09-16
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
7
97916734
2023-05-02
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
8
97742991
2023-01-05
Did Pre-Exam skip this application?
9
76140440
2000-10-05
Registered, But UNKNOWN Mark Drawing Code?
10
81337716
1984-10-15
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
11
81161075
1979-07-16
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
12
81148965
1979-05-15
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
13
81148938
1979-02-01
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
14
81142298
1978-04-28
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
15
81209948
1978-01-01
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
16
81119026
1977-07-05
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
17
81068511
1976-05-13
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search
18
81029001
1973-08-02
Dead 81-series trademark that is LIVE on Trademark Search


As I recall, some work area other that Pre-Exam is responsible for the 89-series trademarks, so I will not bother listing the 82 trademarks for the

LD:true AND FD:[* TO 20240208] AND MD:( 0 unknown ) AND SN:89*

search that still do NOT have valid mark drawing code entries. Several of those 82 trademarks appear to be skeleton records (no drawing, wordmark, owner, etc), like someone created the records for future use.  Yet they have filing dates.  Seems weird to me.


Happy Trademarking,
Ken Boone

________________________________
From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf of Ken Boone via E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2024 9:12 AM
To: E-Trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Ken Boone <boondogles at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [E-trademarks] Pre-Examination Unit wait time

>> Hi.  Does anyone have any insight into what’s going on at the Pre-Examination Unit, with a target 10-day wait time and a current (as of August) average 131-day wait time?

There's obvious answer, namely it's the natural consequence of such a huge backlog on new applications to process.  But I tried to dig a little deeper, first addressing the Madrid applications and then addressing non-Madrid applications.  For both cases, I first looked at missing GS entries.  Sorry, but I did NOT get to occurrences of the UNKNOWN mark drawing code, as I got too frustrated performing that missing GS text review.

1A - Madrid applications missing GS entries.

After a few trial searches, the search LD:true AND FD:[* TO 20240710] AND SN:79* NOT (GS:*) seemed to be a good starting point - only 9 trademarks to review.  Here's a brief summary of those 9 Madrid live filings over 3 months old without GS text entries on Trademark Search (decreasing serial number order).

#
SN
FiledDate
Date Received
Comment
1
79406020
2024-07-03
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
2
79406014
2024-06-17
3-Oct-24
Received last week - no problem.
3
79405680
2024-05-27
unavailable
Could not find application on TSDR. WTF?
4
79402974
2024-06-25
unavailable
Could not find application on TSDR. WTF?
5
79400319
2024-07-02
18-Jul-24
Well beyond the 7-day processing average. WTF?
6
79400048
2024-05-13
18-Jul-24
Well beyond the 7-day processing average. WTF?
7
79399924
2024-04-11
11-Jul-24
Well beyond the 7-day processing average. WTF?
8
79397585
2024-03-01
13-Jun-24
Well beyond the 7-day processing average. WTF?
9
79391532
2024-01-26
14-Mar-24
Well beyond the 7-day processing average. WTF?

For this first review, 7 of 9 trademarks would have processing failures.  I was particularly annoyed that I could not view the applications on TSDR for hits #3 and #4, but maybe those were temporary TSDR hiccups.  Moving on ...

1B - Non-Madrid applications missing GS entries.

The search LD:true AND FD:[* TO 20240410]   NOT (GS:* SN:(89* 79*) ) retrieves 23 live non-Madrid filings over 6 months old but having no GS text, ignoring the 89-series.  Here's my brief summary (in decreasing filing date order) of those 23 older live trademarks with no GS text.

#
SN
FiledDate
Comment
1
98337844
2024-01-01
Application withdrawn by USPTO before publication …
2
98274578
2023-11-16
Maybe no one has noticed the missing GS text?
3
98102700
2023-07-26
Some activity, but processing largely skipped for this application?
4
98975170
2023-07-12
Incomplete Divisional?
5
97874126
2023-04-05
Processing skipped for this application?
6
97978503
2023-01-23
Maybe no one has noticed the missing GS text?
7
97978567
2022-12-29
Processing skipped for this application?
8
97978808
2022-11-18
Processing skipped for this application?
9
97978301
2022-07-27
Some activity, but processing largely skipped for this application?
10
76720936
2021-11-23
Madrid converted to national application awaiting processing.
11
90981207
2020-09-24
Processing skipped for this application?
12
90981101
2020-09-23
Processing skipped for this application?
13
76720931
2017-09-20
Madrid converted to national application awaiting processing.
14
81337716
1984-10-15
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
15
81161075
1979-07-16
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
16
81148965
1979-05-15
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
17
81148938
1979-02-01
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
18
81144258
1978-06-08
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
19
81142298
1978-04-28
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
20
81209948
1978-01-01
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
21
81119026
1977-07-05
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
22
81068511
1976-05-13
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.
23
81029001
1973-08-02
Dead registration that appears as live on Trademark Search.

In summary, it looks like the USPTO has largely ignored most of these live tradmarks with no GS text.  (Also, note that we can only guess how the USPTO computes the Pre-Examination Unit wait time, but that calculation apparently does NOT include applications that may have been skipped by Pre-Exam.)

Well, these first two reviews were too frustrating to continue with the proposed reviews of older live trademarks with the UNKNOWN mark drawing code (since Pre-Exam determines the mark drawing code for new applications).  Maybe I'll perform that analysis later today.

Happy Trademarking,
Ken Boone

________________________________
From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf of Jessica R Murray via E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Sent: Monday, October 7, 2024 1:34 PM
To: 'e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com' <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Jessica R Murray <jrmurray at syr.edu>
Subject: [E-trademarks] Pre-Examination Unit wait time




Hi.  Does anyone have any insight into what’s going on at the Pre-Examination Unit, with a target 10-day wait time and a current (as of August) average 131-day wait time?



[A screenshot of a computer  Description automatically generated]



Thanks,



Jessica



Jessica R. Murray
(pronouns she/her/hers)
Director, Transactional Law Clinic
Associate Teaching Professor
Syracuse University College of Law



Zoom Link  https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/my/jessica.r.murray


T 315.443.4582  F 315.443.3636
jrmurray at syr.edu<mailto:jrmurray at syr.edu>

Dineen Hall, 950 Irving Ave., Syracuse, NY 13244
law.syr.edu

Syracuse University
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