The Gift that Keeps on Giving

It has come to my attention that Sarah Palin has filed an application with the USPTO to register SARAH PALIN as a service mark for "Information about political elections; Providing a website featuring information about political issues" in class 35 and "Educational and entertainment services, namely, providing motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values" in class 41. As of this writing there is an office action outstanding in which the trademark examining attorney has noted that the class 35 specimens are unacceptable because they do not show use of the applied-for mark in connection with any of the services specified in the application. According to the office action "the specimen submitted for 'Information about political elections' is a news story on the Fox® Network about Ms. Palin" and the specimens submitted for "Providing a website featuring information about political issues" are postings on Facebook®. Thus, "the specimen does not show use of the mark as 'providing a website featuring…'. Rather the proposed mark merely appears as a posting name." Judging by these specimens, it seems that Palin or her attorney may not completely understand what constitutes use of a word or symbol as a trademark.
An application to register BRISTOL PALIN has also been filed, for "Educational and entertainment services, namely, providing motivational speaking services in the field of life choices" in class 41. The "field of life choices?" An interesting field - the USPTO may require some clarification on that. There is also an office action outstanding against this application because the specimen does not show the applied-for mark in actual use in commerce. People generally just do not understand the specimen submission component of the trademark application. Palin and her daughter have a lot of company in stumbling over this requirement. Although both these applications have been initially refused for failure to provide an acceptable specimen, the Palins' attorney should be able to overcome the refusals.
A small thank you is due to John McCain for bequeathing to the American people this gift that keeps on giving. I have my doubts that Palin provides any "educational services." But she does provide "entertainment services."