Introducing: Our new outreach events section

Please submit nominations for the Trademarks Customer Service Recognition Award! The Trademark Customer Service Recognition Award recognizes Trademark employees for exceptional customer service that far exceeds the call of duty resulting in the advancement of the mission of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 
 
The TM Employee Recognition and Awards Committee will accept nominations through Friday, May 17.   
 
Remember, exceptional customer service can be delivered externally and internally, so feel free to nominate TM employees who display the TRADEMARKS of Excellent Customer Service in either area of engagement.

The registered marks are HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL PARK in standard characters and (both marks disclaiming “HOLLYWOOD” and “PARK”) for “Real estate development services” in Class 37. However, the Board focused its analysis on the HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL PARK mark in standard characters.

Focusing first on the relatedness of the identified services, the Board explained that Applicant’s mixed-use real estate development services are encompassed by Registrant’s real estate development services and are legally identical. Based on the third-party registrations and third-party website evidence, the Board also found that Applicant’s Class 36 real estate management services are related to the Registrant’s Class 37 real estate development services.

The Board also considered the conditions of sale, i.e., impulse vs careful, sophisticated purchasing. The Board found that this factor slightly favored Applicant because the Applicant’s and Registrant’s services are not average consumer services and more than average care would be used in selecting services.

With regard to the marks, the Board first discussed the strength or weakness of the terms in the registered mark HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL PARK. In view of the dictionary meanings of the terms, the Board found that the registered mark as a whole is highly suggestive and conceptually weak in connection with the real estate development services.

The Board next turned to the similarity of the marks.  Despite the similarity of the shared term HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL, the Board reiterated the marks must be considered in their entireties. When so compared, the Board found the marks as a whole take on different meanings and engender different overall commercial impressions. Applicant had introduced evidence that the combined term “CENTRAL MARKET” connoted a retail establishment similar to a “European-style gourmet shopping experience.” As to the combined term “CENTRAL PARK”, applicant had provided a webpage for Central Park located in New York City to show that the term suggested an image of an open-air oasis in a city. Thus, when comparing the marks in their entireties, the Board explained that HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL MARKET evokes real estate management and development services in connection with a centrally located market for goods and services that is located in central Hollywood, while HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL PARK evokes real estate development services in connection with a centrally located urban park in central Hollywood. 

Thus, when considered in their entireties, the different connotations and overall commercial impressions weigh against a finding that confusion is likely. Given the conceptual weakness of HOLLYWOOD CENTRAL, the additional terms create sufficient dissimilarity such that no confusion is likely.

Mindy Wudarsky is an Examining Attorney in Law Office 117. In addition to contributing to the success of the Law Office and the Agency with consistently high production and quality examination, Mindy constantly seeks new challenges and opportunities to lend a hand.  Although Mindy has been in the Law Office for less than a year and a half, she has established herself as a leader and a reliable “go to” for her colleagues and management team. Mindy has volunteered to accept reassignment of countless applications, including portions of the dockets of three former Examining Attorneys. In addition, she serves as a buddy for newly-hired Examining Attorneys, moderates Law Office case chats, and routinely helps out with examination issues and engagement activities. Many thanks to Mindy for her invaluable contributions and commitment to Trademarks’ success!

Supervisors: Do you have a nomination for Employee of the Month? Each month
a Trademarks employee will be recognized for the great work he or she does.
Find nomination requirements and information on past winners. 

Kudos to those with the top three brackets in the Trademarks NCAA bracket challenge for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Women’s Tournament

1^st: Shakeyla Flores (LO 120)
2^nd: Lori Lauterbach (TMLL)
3^rd: John Sullivan (LO 114)

Men’s Tournament

1^st: Alison Keeley (LO 113)
2^nd: Lori Lauterbach (TMLL)
3^rd: Cameron Rocha (LO 118)

If you’ve been on the TM Exam Resource Center recently, you may have noticed a new dashboard highlighting important deadlines for examining attorneys' dockets. This dashboard was a suggestion from Christina Sobral, Law Office 109.

Christina submitted a suggestion that Trademarks create a dashboard of the current PAP docket deadlines. The easy-to-read dashboard that resulted from her suggestion highlights deadlines for first actions, amended applications, abandonments, and applications returned for correction. This resource will be valuable to examining attorneys in their work, and it wouldn’t have happened without Christina’s suggestion and the NTEU 245 Communications and Engagement Working Group’s implementation.

You can find the docket on the TM Exam Resource Center under “TM Exam. Attorney Docket Deadlines — FY 24”.

If you have a bright idea, suggest it to your supervisor or submit it via the Trademarks online suggestion form and you too could foster change that affects our work for the better - and be mentioned in the “Ideas in motion” section!

DEIA Book Club

The Trademark Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Council is hosting its next book club meeting on Thursday, May 16th at 12 p.m. ET. The book club will discuss I Never Thought of It That Way by journalist Mónica Guzmán. The book focuses on how to have productive conversations about difficult subjects. It includes information on how to:

• Ask what you really want to know (even if you’re afraid to ask)
• Grow smarter from tense interactions, both online and offline
• Cross boundaries and find common ground with anyone

This book is a timely read and can help you learn to communicate more effectively and build bridges with people who have a different viewpoint than you. This book club meeting will have a special guest - Kathleen Miller, the organizational development specialist with Workforce Programs. In her role, Kathleen developed the recent training on abusive communications.

Whether or not you’ve read the book, we invite you and your friends to come. If you want to read the book, but haven’t bought it yet, consider picking it up at your local public library or using your library card to download the eBook version.

No other time or production time will be given for this event. See meeting access information below:

Microsoft Teams

Join the meeting now 
Meeting ID: 253 168 611 003
Passcode: w9eBTg 

Interested in learning more about the TM DEIA Book Club? Check out the article about the book club in TM People.

Focus on mindfulness by attending the Meditation Sessions, available every other Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. ET. With meditation, you can enter a state of deep relaxation and find tranquility in your mind.

Visit the Trademarks Interactive Calendar to sign up for yoga, meditation, or both and invigorate your workday!