Re: Harley-Davidson sound trademark?

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Thomas Workman <tworkman[_at_]erols.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 28 Jul 1999, Michael Moore <mmoore[_at_]mtu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > The motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson filed a request with the
> > PTO to trademark its 'unique' engine sound in 1994. Does anyone know
> > what the final adjudication of that case is? I know that several
> > other manufacturers submitted opposing views (which I'd like to track
> > down and read someday), but I haven't been able to find any updates,
> > either on the PTO site, or by searching the CNI archives, though I
> > know it was discussed here at one point.
> >
> > Does anyone have any pointers on how I might find the status of that case?
>
> I have always thought that the trademark issued, but I never did a formal
> lookup of the mark on the web. A search by mark would be tricky...

The appropriate search strategy involves the field "Description of Mark" (on the USPTO's MANUAL search engine <http://trademarks.uspto.gov/access/search-adv.html> the search must be prequalified with the field identifier DE).

The application under discussion is serial number 75-453530. The "description of mark" field states "mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant's motorcycles." The applicant is H-D Michigan, Inc.

The status of the mark indicates that as of 12-98 "A non-final action has been mailed. This is a letter from the examining attorney requesting additional information and/or making an initial refusal. However, no final determination as to the registrability of the mark has been made."

Best regards,

Julia Crawford, M.L.I.S.
Assistant Professor
Patent & Trademark Librarian
206 CITD, OSU
Stillwater OK 74078-8085
(405)744-7086 voice (405)744-7083 fax
juliac[_at_]okstate.edu
http://www.library.okstate.edu/dept/patents/ Received on Fri Jul 30 1999 - 14:19:28 GMT