Trademarks are Significant to Business What Happens if its Rejected?

Trademarks are significant to businesses as they create the company’s image, and they play a crucial part in establishing their reputation within the market.

Trademarks could take various forms such as brand names, company logos, and even their business slogans. Yet, several questions might be bugging you, and this might include the “what if my trademark was rejected?”

Although it’s not a frequent occurrence, there are various reasons why a trademark might be rejected. Most of those reasons could be identified according to the following:

1.It isn’t very clear.

The one responsible for issuing trademark permits is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), so it’s their job to ensure that the public’s trademark won’t be confused with other brands.

Suppose your trademark has considerable similarity to an existing trademark such as Starbucks. In that case, there’s a great chance that you would be rejected even if there was a difference in the color scheme and logo design.

2.It appears scandalous

Trademarks are supposed to give a message to the general public, but sometimes, this can be tricky, especially if it could potentially embody a scandalous context.

An NFL football team from Washington, D.C., had firsthand experience with this incident when the court ordered the cancellation of their trademark. This was after the federal judge affirmed that the “Redskins” might stain the image of Native Americans and lead to a worse problem.

Of course, context is subjective. However, it is still within the verdict of the USPTO as to how to approach the situation.

But to prevent this from happening, it’s best to stick to trademarks with no immoral or disparaging context.

3.It’s your surname

Understandably, a business would like to incorporate the owner’s last name in their brand, especially if it has been a family business, but hold your horses. This could cause you trouble.

The USPTO wouldn’t blink an eye before refusing your registration. And as much as you want to believe your last name is unique, we’re sorry to let you know that it’s not.

So, if you would still love to follow through, you have to associate it with your products.

To further check the complete list for rejected trademarks, you could look at the Lanham Act Section 2.

Do I still get a second chance?

Typically, the USPTO would carry out the decision along with a provided explanation.

Once you’ve received the details, it’s best to take a second look at the application you have filled out, so you could identify the amendments you should make.

Defects could take you to take either the Procedural Trademark Office Actions or the Substantive Trademark Office Actions.

The former is for simple issues that could be solved easily by tweaking some information defects during registration, like disclaimers, class refusal, specimen refusal, legal entity errors, or multiple-class requirements.

How should you respond?

The first step is to approach someone from USPTO who could answer some fundamental questions regarding your registration.

It’s important to note that even if they can’t provide you with legal advice, they could still assist you if you have administrative or technical concerns.

The second step, which we highly recommend, is to contact your trademark lawyer. Since these professionals have studied the legal aspects of trademarks, they could help you have specific legal objections.

Third, file your response through the TEAS. The Trademark Electronic Action System (TEAS) is an online platform for managing the various things that relate to issuing and delivering applicants’ responses, assuming that your response is eligible to be processed.

And last, wait for the decision of the USPTO as you could only have a limited opportunity for rebuttals. A “Final Office Action” would indicate that the decision is final, whether or not it’s a refusal or the legislation of your trademark.