How to Submit a Specimen in your Trademark Application
You need to submit a specimen, or PROOF that you are selling products or providing services in connection with your trademark in business. The USPTO refers to this “proof” as a “specimen”.
What that means is you need to show your trademark IN CONNECTION with a product or service.
No matter WHAT type of proof you provide, one thing is always true: Your applied-for trademark has to MATCH your trademark shown on the specimen.
What does that mean?
Well, let’s say I’m applying for the trademark MAMABEANS with design elements of a flower to the left of the word. And I’m selling t-shirts.
But then when I upload the specimen, the trademark has the wording MAMABEANS on the t-shirt, but the flower is to the right of the word.
Do these trademarks match?
No!
I’d have to make sure the specimen shows my applied-for trademark, which in this case, also has yellow roses on it! Like this.
Also, remember that if you applied for a standard character mark, your trademark can be shown in ANY font, style, size or color. Standard character marks also never have design elements!
Now that we have that important rule out of the way, let’s start with showing proof for selling products.
Let’s say my trademark is a yellow and white flower and I sell t-shirts. So, I’d need to show the trademark in connection with t-shirts.
There are several ways to show this proof.
I can show the trademark ON the product, which is a t-shirt.
Or on a TAG CONNECTED to the t-shirt.
I can also show the trademark on the packaging of the t-shirts.
I could just take a picture of any of these examples, or a screenshot showing any of these examples, and attach the specimen.
Finally, let’s say I have the trademark MAMABEANS and I sell the t-shirts on a web site, like Amazon. I can also use my web site as proof that I’m selling the t-shirts, even if I don’t have an example of the trademark on the t-shirt!
This type of proof requires three things. It must:
- Contain a picture OR written description of the goods;
- Show the mark in association with the goods; and
- Provide a means for ordering the identified goods, like a shopping cart or Add to Cart button.
Here, on an Amazon web site, I can show this proof by prominently showing the trademark MAMABEANS on the web page, having a description that I’m selling t-shirts, and having the “Add to Cart” Option visible.
So, when I submit this type of specimen, so long as I meet the three standards above, it will be acceptable – even if the trademark is not also on the product itself! Here, the MAMABEANS trademark does not actually need to be shown on the t-shirts, and is still acceptable because it met the three conditions!
You can take a screenshot of the web site, and attach the specimen.
If you’re using a webpage for your specimen, and the URL and the date you accessed the web page isn’t already shown somewhere on the web page, you’ll input this information.
This is the date you accessed your web site to take the screenshot, and not the date you created the web site.
Now, what about if I’m providing services?
In that case, you have to show your trademark as used in the sale or advertising of the services in your application.
You also have to show a direct association between your trademark and at least one of your services in your application!
For this, you can ask yourself: Does my specimen provide a direct link or connection between my trademark and my applied-for services?
It’s very common to submit a web site for your specimen. Now, remember that the specimen needs to show the trademark and have a “direct association” with at least one of the services in your application!
Let’s say my trademark is JIMMYRAMA and I’m providing a service, like barber services. If I provide my web page, and it only references selling lawn mowers, there would clearly not be a direct association!
But, now let’s say I have a web site that actually advertises barber services. Let’s say it shows JIMMYRAMA and a picture of a man getting a haircut. And it also references “Inexpensive haircuts” and the phrase “Best haircuts in Boston”. All of that makes it pretty clear that I’m providing barber services, doesn’t it?
Just like before, when providing a web site for your specimen, remember you need to provide the URL and the date accessed. But if this information is ALREADY shown somewhere on the web page specimen, you don’t need to provide this information again.
For services, you can also provide advertisements and marketing materials for specimens for services.
Let’s use some other examples of specimens with the yellow and white flower trademark:
Some examples include:
- Brochures
- Newspaper or magazine ads, and even:
- Menus for Restaurants
If you don’t get this proof done perfectly the first time around, that’s okay! The Patent and Trademark Office will give you a second chance to submit this proof at a later date.
