Estta1084259 09/24/2020 in the United States Patent And
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Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Electronic Filing System. http://estta.uspto.gov ESTTA Tracking number: ESTTA1084259 Filing date: 09/24/2020 IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Proceeding 79262338 Applicant APM MONACO SAM Applied for Mark APM Correspondence E VICTOR INDIANO Address INDIANO LAW GROUP LLC 9795 CROSSPOINT BLVD STE 185 INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46256, IN 46256 UNITED STATES Primary Email: [email protected] Secondary Email(s): [email protected], [email protected], gad- [email protected], [email protected] 317-927-8465 Submission Applicant's Motion to Suspend Attachments Request For Suspension Of Appeal 24 September 2020.pdf(1087541 bytes ) Filer's Name E. Victor Indiano Filer's email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], Account- [email protected], [email protected] Signature /E. Victor Indiano/ Date 09/24/2020 Request for Suspension Of Appeal Under TTTAB Manual of Procedure Section 1213 Request for Reconsideration and Suspension Under TMEP Section 7.16.02(e) Mark: APM Serial No: 79262338 Applicant: APM Monaco SAM Dear Sirs: I. Overview A. Request For Reconsideration And Suspension With this submission, the applicant respectfully requests the examiner to reconsider his final refusal of the above referenced application, and to suspend the application pursuant to the provisions of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, section 7.16.02(e) which permits the examiner to suspend an application that is rejected under a cited registration that is likely to be either canceled, or expire soon. B. Request For Suspension of Appeal Alternately, the applicant respectfully requests the Board to suspend the appeal of this application under the provisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure Section 1213 (4) which permits the Board to suspend an appeal of an application that was rejected based on a cited registration that is likely to be either canceled or expire soon. A notice of appeal has been filed in this application to give the Board jurisdiction to so suspend the application. II. Facts and Argument In support of the Applicant’s request, the applicant sets forth the following facts and arguments. In the official action, the Examiner refused registration based on U.S. Registration No.4556675. for AP M SPORTS (the “SPORTS Registration” a/k/a Serial No:85/751450) that is owned by APM Sports LLC of Newburyport, Massachusetts, 01950. The SPORTS Registration was registered on 24 June 2014, and the Applicant had until 24 June 2020 in which to file a Section 8 Declaration or the registration will become cancelled. No such Section 8 Declaration was filed by 24 June 2020. 1 Of course, the Registrant may take advantage of the six-month grace period, meaning that the Section 8 Declaration may be filed up until 24 December 2020. The Applicant believes that it is highly likely that the SPORTS Registration will not be renewed. Certain facts support the Applicant’s belief. First, although the Applicant is not completely certain, he seems to remember that approximately 40% of the marks that are registered are not renewed at the time their Sections 8 & 15 are due. As such, even without more, there is probably at least a 40% chance that it will not be renewed. Second, as shown in Exhibit A, APM Sports LLC has been administratively dissolved by the Massachusetts Secretary of State. The fact that the corporation was dissolved over 4½ years ago on 30 June 2015, suggests strongly that this company is no longer in business, thus providing further evidence that the mark not likely to be renewed. Page 2 of Exhibit B shows the results of a Facebook search for APM Sports. It will be noted that although four APM Sports listings exist, none of the APM Sports listed have any relation to the APM Sports that owns the SPORTS Registration or otherwise any APM Sports that sells apparel items. As Facebook is a primary vehicle for advertising one’s business, and as the cost of a Facebook page is free, almost all businesses of any size that remain in business will typically have a Facebook page. The fact that APM Sports LLC does not have a Facebook page is further evidence that the company is no longer in business, especially in view of the fact that APM Sports sells apparel items. At pages 3 et seq of Exhibit B, you will find the results of a Google search for APM Sports of Massachusetts. Importantly, there does not appear to be any records on Google of APM Sports LLC. The absence of reference on Google suggests that the company has no website, or no other online presence, which is almost mandatory for any business selling any products, and especially consumer products. At pages 17 et seq of the search report, there is reprinted an Amazon search for “APM Sports” products sold by Amazon. In the search, you will note that only three APM Sports’ products exist. These APM Sports’ products do not appear to have any relation to the APM Sports that owns the registration, as they all relate to drone-related products and not apparel items. The failure of a product to be on Amazon also suggests strongly that the company is no longer in business and Amazon is a favored venue especially for small companies because of Amazon’s general policy of being willing to sell products for anyone, since Amazon generally sells products on a “consignment basis” wherein they do not purchase any inventory, warehouse or fulfill the products, but rather allow the seller to purchase the products, maintain the inventory, and fulfill the products so that Amazon does not have to invest anything in the products. eBay has a similar policy and for the same reason is a favored outlet for small business-type sellers. 2 At page 22 of Exhibit B, an eBay search is shown for APM Sports where it will be noted that the only two “hits” related to sports armband cell phone cases wherein unbranded products were sold that had a product number that included the initials “APM”. Interestingly, at the bottom of the eBay site is a listing for the APM Monaco official website. This is interesting, because APM Monaco is the client and Applicant. Another consignment type site favored by small businesses that sells a large number of personalized and apparel-related goods is Etsy. At page 22 of Exhibit B there exists an Etsy printout that also shows that Etsy found no results for APM Sports. In summary, there appears to be no commercial or corporate activity for the owner of the APM Sports registration. Although this search is not conclusive since one can never prove the negative to a certainty through a search, it does suggest that it is highly unlikely that the APM SPORTS registration will be renewed, or that confusion will ever be likely because one cannot confuse the Applicant’s products with products that are not being sold, no more than one can reasonably confuse a man walking down the street with Abraham Lincoln, since President Lincoln is deceased and therefore cannot be walking down the street. This unlikelihood of a maintenance declaration being filed exists until today. A recent review of the status of the cited registration is shown below. It will be noted that even as of 21 September 2020, no Section 8 declaration has been filed. In fact, the last document to appear in the file history of the cited registration is the courtesy reminder that is sent out by the trademark office to the registrant to remind the registrant of the need to file his section 8 declaration. Based on this information, and these facts, the applicant believes that there is a very strong likelihood that no declaration will ever be filed, and that the cited registration will be canceled at the end of the grace period, which grace period ends on 24 December 2020. 3 III. Conclusion Therefore, the applicant requests that the board suspend the appeal, or the examiner suspend the application, until such time as it can be finally determined whether the section 8 declaration for the cited registration is ever filed. If the Examiner has any other issues or questions relating to this Response or this application, the Examiner is respectfully requested to contact the undersigned, E. Victor Indiano by telephone at (317) 912-8465, or by e-mail at [email protected], to discuss these issues. 4 To the extent that one may be necessary, this response respectfully requests an extension of time for an appropriate period. The Examiner is also hereby authorized to charge any defect in fees, or credit any overpayment to Deposit Account No. 50-1590, of E. Victor Indiano. 5 Exhibit A Materials Relating to The Current Status of APM Sports, LLC Facebook search for APM Sports Google search for APM Sports Boston Parks & Recreation Department - Online Services https://apm.activecommunities.com › cobparksandrecdepart › Home 1. 2. 1010 Massachusetts Avenue 3rd Floor. Boston, MA 02118. Contact us for information: Tel. 617.635.4505. Email: [email protected]. Methods of PaymentVisa, ... South Boston Sports Center https://apm.activecommunities.com › cobparksandrecdepart › activity_search 1. Facility: LEE - Flag Football/Yth. Soocer (L) ... Activity South Boston Sports, The participant must select between 1 and 6 activities to register ... Boston, MA 02118. Apm assistant program manager Jobs in Boston, MA | Glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com › Job › boston-apm-assistant-program-manager... 1. 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