[E-trademarks] Standard Character Watch - Challenging SCMs

[Ken Boone]

Wait … are you saying that the USPTO's OG review process should include searches that show contradictions for the standard characters claim?   Like for this DIMIQI example, a search like

MD:standard AND DE:( RED STYLIZED SUPERSCRIPT ) AND PO:*

would have alerted the OG reviewers to check this particular DIMIQI application before the 30 September OG was issued?  Is that (in part) how Ken finds some of these challenging standard character marks, namely that Ken searches for terms like stylized or red or superscript occurring in the description of mark field of standard character marks for trademarks having the approved for publication status?

Well, that's pretty simple.

I'll bet that Ken is still collecting contradictory searches like that to help identify some of these challenging standard character marks.

The strange part, though, is that by my review of the raw application for this DIMIQI mark, there is no trace of a claim to standard characters.  There are just 3 documents on TSDR, namely

Aug. 29, 2025     TRAM Snapshot of App at Pub for Oppostn
Aug. 29, 2025     XSearch Search Summary
Apr. 01, 2025     Application

where only the application is from the applicant. So how did this become a standard character mark?  The description of mark The mark consists of the stylized wording "DIMIQI"  is included in the application.  Do you suppose Pre-Exam decided that this DIMIQI mark was a valid standard character mark?  Or did the EA make that change without including an examiner's amendment?  I guess we'll never know.

FTR, I did identify 86 older challenging standard character mark registrations.  The search

( SN:( 75316798 76123375 77758054 77951587 78163331 78681112 79049660 79049661 79166932 79232239 79235429 79257789 79264585 79285188 79288581 79292893 79300503 79306620 79309572 79366806 79366809 79400216 79401538 85308413 85391824 85533315 85625785 86083348 86753094 87145474 87200354 87220826 87335466 87375767 87403668 87445438 87459673 87515330 87553047 87553675 87600188 87609956 87854681 88084031 88111440 88173859 88183405 88225758 88306476 88316926 88339380 88394514 88394702 88415577 88505427 88613853 88691323 88751137 88833903 88865868 88928166 90022458 90053972 90095605 90097975 90107386 90158138 90180271 90184692 90196041 90211976 90264113 90308683 90361649 90440802 90459484 90469798 90515424 90703352 90734180 90752126 90757438 90808554 90868507 90981305 97156647 97166056 97626107 97670162 97707062 97794874 98026143 98179252 )  ) AND ( MD:standard AND LR:true )

retrieves those 86 older standard character mark registrations, but I'm not energetic enough to generate a report with the drawings and my comments on why the standard character claim is challenging.  For most, a quick glance at the drawing is sufficient to see the standard character claim is inappropriate, but these are now active registrations, so I doubt the USPTO will do anything to try to correct the standard character claims, right?  That's why there's a TTAB, right?

Thinking outside
the box
,
Ken Boone

________________________________
From: Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2025 12:01 PM
To: For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Subject: Re: [E-trademarks] Standard Character Watch - Challenging SCMs

On 9/11/2025 10:47 AM, Ken Boone via E-trademarks wrote:

#
SN
Wordmark
Drawing
Comment
1
99113838
DIMIQI
[Image for 99113838, select for more details]
Considering the  drawing, is this a valid  STANDARD CHARACTER MARK  or a STYLIZED TEXT MARK?


Yes, we look in TSDR and we see that the Trademark Office clerks have indexed this application two ways.  First, the description of the mark:

Description of Mark:    The mark consists of the stylized wording "DIMIQI".

Okay, so it is stylized.  That's settled.  But wait!  We also see these words in the TSDR record:

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

Seems to me they can't have it both ways.  Well, somebody was wrong at the Trademark Office.  Look at this and decide for yourself who was wrong:

[cid:part1.hD0enqJn.T3F0lHwe at oppedahl.com]

Oh and note that "review prior to publication" is completed!  The nameless Trademark Office people who do this review seem to act on a hair trigger.  But not in this case.  They snoozed through it.


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