In your Office Action, you may have received the following refusal that your Marks on Specimen and Drawing Do Not Match or Differ, or Specimen and Drawing Do Not Match or Differ.

Before we begin, let’s do a brief review of what a specimen and a drawing is.

When you submit a specimen, you are submitting proof to the USPTO that you are using your trademark in connection with your goods and services.

A drawing is just the name for how your trademark is depicted.

When you receive this Refusal, the USPTO is simply saying that the drawing -or depiction of your trademark - in your application does not match the trademark shown on your specimen.

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Let’s use some examples.

Let’s say I applied with the applied-for mark or drawing of “TOMMY’S GREEN CARS” in a standard character form for t-shirts.  But on the specimen, I’ve only included the word “TOMMY’S” with no reference to Green Cars.  Here, the drawing and the trademark in the specimen do not match because the trademark in the specimen does not have all the same words shown in the drawing!

Or, let’s say I applied with the applied-for mark or drawing of a stylized pink “CINDY’S ICE CREAM” with a stylized pink ice cream cone to the right of the wording, and I’m selling t-shirts. 

But on the specimen, the wording “CINDY’S ICE CREAM” is in blue, and the ice cream cone is blue and to the left of the wording.  In this case, the drawing in the application and the trademark in the specimen do not match because they are not only in different colors, but the placement of the ice cream code in relation to the wording is different too!

So, what can you do to fix this refusal?

Well, you can submit a new specimen so that the drawing does match the specimen.  For instance, I could include a new t-shirt with the wording TOMMY’S GREEN CARS on the shirt.  Now, they match!

Or, in some cases, I can change the DRAWING to match the SPECIMEN.  

So, let’s use the same “CINDY’S ICE CREAM” example.  Instead of providing a new specimen, I could provide a new drawing to match the specimen.  In this case, the new drawing would be the blue stylized wording “CINDY’S ICE CREAM” with the stylized blue ice cream cone to the left of the wording.

Now, you can only do this if the new drawing isn’t a significant – or what the USPTO calls it – a material – change. 

If you choose this option, you’ll have to provide a new mark description in your Response, too, if your trademark is not in standard characters.  After all, you’re submitting a new drawing, so the old Mark Description needs to be changed so that it describes the new drawing.

In your Office Action, you should have the recommended wording already provided by the USPTO to describe the new trademark, which is known as the Mark Description.

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