Responding effectively to initial refusal to register

Posted by Richard Z. Ward on March 09, 2002 at 13:42:53:

Hello,

I have applied for trademark and received an initial refusal on a number of grounds including: "likelihood of confusion" and mark is "merely descriptive".

At first I took this to mean there was no hope and was too engrosed in developing the next version of our product to investigate the possibility of responding effectively. Now that I have some time, I have begun to research the topic and now feel there is a possibility of responding effectively.

My questions are:

1. How much time does it typically take to put together a response?

2. What is a typical cost range for a trademark lawyer to put together a response?

3. If I were to respond myself (because of lack of money and the lack of availability of trademark lawyer due to short notice) would the USPTO reject the response because it does not cite court decisions? That is, do they only speak lawyer, or is it possible for me to argue my case in plain language?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Richard

Follow Ups:

• Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register bob 16:40:07 11/08/03 (0)
• Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register Kenneth Chuah 04:20:10 3/11/02 (3)
  • Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register Richard Z. Ward 13:22:28 3/12/02 (1)
    • Re: Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register M Arthur Auslander 22:23:25 3/12/02 (0)
  • Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register M Arthur Auslander 22:14:58 3/11/02 (0)
• Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register M Arthur Auslander 22:28:31 3/10/02 (3)
  • Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register mike 16:39:57 11/08/03 (0)
  • Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register Richard Z. Ward 13:28:01 3/12/02 (1)
    • Re: Re: Re: Responding effectively to initial refusal to register M Arthur Auslander 22:28:45 3/12/02 (0)

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