[E-trademarks] Unicode Watch: 79416509 - GX･SONIC STREAM - Published For Opposition Jun. 10, 2025

[Ken Boone]

[Image for 79416509, select for more details]
79416509, the standard character mark GX･SONIC STREAM, was published for opposition last week (Jun. 10, 2025).  Apparently, no one noticed (including myself until today) that he third character ･ is NOT a valid standard character.  According to Google's AI summary, the raised dot character ･ is the Unicode character with decimal value 65381, the Halfwidth Katakana Middle Dot. (Katakana is one of the three Japanese scripts, alongside hiragana and kanji. It's primarily used for writing foreign words, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.)
The TMEP states
807.03(b)    List of Standard Characters
The USPTO has created a standard character set that lists letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and diacritical marks that may be used in a standard character drawing.  The standard character set is available on the USPTO website at https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/standard-character-set. If the applicant has claimed standard character format and the drawing includes elements that are not in the set, then the examining attorney must treat the drawing as a special form drawing, ensure that the mark drawing code is changed, and require the applicant to delete the standard character claim.  See TMEP §807.18 concerning mark drawing codes.

In a §66(a) application, if the drawing includes elements that are not in the standard character set, the examining attorney must require deletion of the standard character claim even though the international registration indicates that the mark is in standard characters.   See Guide to International Registration, B.II.07.44.
but rather than deleting the standard character claim (since the USPTO is in no great hurry to add additional Unicode characters to the standard character listing at https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/standard-character-set),<https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/standard-character-set),> perhaps the more appropriate fix is for the USPTO to modify the wordmark to use · (the middle dot, centered dot character with decimal value 183) as the third character of this trademark?
Following is the relevant TSDR status text generated on 2025-06-19 19:33:53 EDT
Mark: GX･SONIC STREAM   
US Serial Number: 79416509    Application Filing Date:      Dec. 17, 2024
Register:   Principal
Mark Type:  Trademark
Status:     Application has been published for opposition. The opposition period begins on the date of publication.
Status Date:      Jun. 10, 2025
Publication Date: Jun. 10, 2025           
Mark Information
Mark Literal Elements:  GX･SONIC STREAM
Standard Character Claim:     Yes. The mark consists of standard characters without claim to any particular font style, size, or color.
Mark Drawing Type:      4 - STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Goods and Services
For:  Clothing, namely, swimsuits, swimming caps.
International Class(es):      025 - Primary Class     U.S Class(es):    022, 039
Class Status:     ACTIVE

Happy Unicoding,
Ken Boone

BTW, the WD:*･* search uniquely retrieves only this GX･SONIC STREAM mark.  Conversely, the WD:*·* AND LD:true search retrieves 7,102 trademarks, though only 916 are standard character marks.

PS - About a month ago, I asked ...

What do you expect will happen with these 3 standard character marks? Search SN:( 99134995 99135001 99159750 ) to view these 3 applications on TM Search/TSDR.  For these applications, the USPTO generated standard character drawings do not match the literal elements provided, but the applicants apparently did not inspect the USPTO generated standard character drawings prior to submitting the applications. Clearly, the Unicode characters provided are equivalent to characters in the standard character list. I don't see any evidence that Pre-Exam has noticed/processed these April applications yet.  (No, I'm not expecting any replies, so surprise me!)


SN
Wordmark
Drawing
99134995
Z‧PILOT
 [Image for 99134995, select for more details]

99135001
Z‧PILOT
 [Image for 99135001, select for more details]

99159750
ＴＲＫ－９５０
 [Image for 99159750, select for more details]


No one surprised me with a response.  Well, here's my response:  The USPTO should admit their application software failed to generate accurate standard character drawings from the literal elements provided and generate new standard character drawings that more accurately show the literal elements provided.

PPS - Here's a related posting in which the USPTO substituted corresponding characters from the standard character set that matched the Unicode characters included in the literal elements.  Don't these 3 corrections establish the precedent for substituting the equivalent standard characters for Unicode characters that the USPTO failed to handle appropriately?  {BTW, the search WD:( *Μ* ) AND LD:true AND MD:( standard ) retrieves 10 other pending standard character marks with µ in the drawing but Μ in the wordmark, so those 10 pending trademarks should be corrected too.}


________________________________
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, May 15, 2025 6:59 AM
To: For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Ken Boone <boondogles at hotmail.com>
Subject: [E-trademarks] Standard Character Watch: 3 Unicode µ (decimal 956) Updated To The Standard Character µ (decimal 181)

Yesterday, the following 3 pending trademarks had the following wordmark entries on Trademark Search.

98671363    ΜFIDELITY
98671353    ΜVALVE
98671333    ΜCOOLING

The first character of each wordmark was the Unicode Μ with decimal value 924 - - that USPTO processing had converted the Unicode character μ with decimal value 956 into the upper-case Unicode Μ with decimal value 924 for the wordmark.

Today, those 3 pending trademarks have been standardized to have the standard character µ (the micro sign with decimal value 181) as the first character of the wordmark on Trademark Search and TSDR.

98671363    µFIDELITY
98671353    µVALVE
98671333    µCOOLING

In each case, amendments to the original standard character drawings were made by the applicant to use the standard character µ (the micro sign with decimal value 181) instead of the Unicode character μ with decimal value 956 that USPTO processing converted to the upper case Unicode character Μ with decimal value 924 for the wordmark.

It's good to know that updating your trademark to use the standard character µ (the micro sign with decimal value 181) instead of the Unicode character μ (with decimal value 956) is NOT considered an unacceptable material alteration of a trademark. ;-}

Further, these 3 standardized applications have the

Approved by the examining attorney for publication but has not yet published for opposition. Although rare, withdrawal of approval prior to publication may occur after final review. The opposition period begins on the date of publication.

status on TSDR, so publication soon is very likely.

Meanwhile, the search WD:*Μ* AND MD:standard AND LD:true currently retrieves the following 9 pending trademarks (where I use Μ for the location of the Unicode µ occurring in the drawing).

99172015    THE ΜINVASIVE SURGICAL COMPANY
99171987    THE ΜINVASIVE SURGICAL PROCEDURE COMPANY
99171959    ΜINVASIVE SURGERY
99109969    IMΜNOGEL
98859737    ΜPNT
98761636    Μ - MATERIAL MACHINE
98278543    ΜTHORACOTOMY
98168957    ΜMIST
97836045    ΜDRIVE NEXUS

Whether any of those 9 pending trademarks with the Unicode µ was provided in the application will eventually progress to active standard character registrations without updating the marks to use the standard character µ (the micro sign with decimal value 181) remains unknown.  Three (3) of those 9 Μ trademarks have already been published for opposition.  Whether the USPTO will be updating the official https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/standard-character-set anytime soon (e.g., to allow the Unicode character μ with decimal value 956 as a standard character) also remains unknown.

Yes, I still wish the Trademark Search developers had included the Decimal Mark (DM) search field of TESS in Trademark Search, as the Decimal Mark search field made it a lot easier to find unexpected characters occurring in wordmark entries.  Additionally, displaying the Decimal Mark values aligned with the wordmark characters would be helpful for identifying the specific unexpected characters in wordmark entries.  I doubt the typical examining attorney at the USPTO is aware of the phenomenon of Unicode characters not included in the official https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/standard-character-set are now occurring is some standard character marks.

Please forgive me if I accidentally mixed up any occurrences of Unicode character μ (with decimal value 956) with the standard character µ (the micro sign with decimal value 181) anywhere in this memo.

Happy Standardizing Your Characters,
Ken Boone



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