Understanding Alt Legal's 2(d) Watch Service

Updated by Sophia

As part of most subscriptions, and for some as a standalone service, Alt Legal provides a Section 2(d) Watch Service.  

We automatically analyze USPTO trademark office actions on a daily basis using machine learning  to classify these documents by statutory basis for refusal. For office actions that have received a likelihood of confusion refusal (i.e., a section 2(d) refusal), we will identify the trademark(s) that the examiner cites.

This service has several key components, so we break them down for you here.

Next Day Reports:

Next Day Citation Reports - Email only

When we locate a citation that matches a trademark that you have either currently docketed or as part of a monitored list, we will send notice of this to you the next day. This will include any previously mentioned trademarks that have since become published to the Official Gazette.

The email is broken down into 2 sections.

The top section will tell you about any monitored trademarks that have been cited. They follow this format:

Owner(s): Literal Element (or docket title if docketed mark) application# (nice_classes) filed by attorney(s) of record, was cited in:

  • {{Cited on Mark Name or “No Literal Element”}} {{application#}} (nice_classes) | Office Action | Applied for mark owner name

Clicking the application number will take you to the TSDR page for the indicated application, and clicking on the Literal Element/Docket Title will take you to the mark if part of a docket.

Lastly, clicking the Office Action link will take you to the respective document that cited your monitored mark.

Important Note: Our algorithm is tailored to be more sensitive, rather than less. With that in mind, it is possible for a monitored application or registration number to be matched as a false positive.

Next Day publication notice of a monitored mark - Email Only

The next day emails also include a lower section that lists all monitored marks that were previously cited in an office action that have since become published. This section follows the same pattern as the above citations with some minor adjustments.

Owner(s): Literal Element (or docket title if docketed mark) application# (nice_classes) filed by attorney(s) of record and previously cited in a refusal, is now published:

  • {{Cited on Mark Name or “No Literal Element”}}, published on {{publication date}}, {{application#}} (nice_classes) | Office Action | Applied for mark owner name

Next day reports can include both cited and published marks, or just one type, depending on the events of the previous day.

Weekly Reports - Email and Excel Exports

Each week, we will consolidate all the citations and publications that have occurred during the week, from Friday to Friday. We then display those citations and publications in a Friday email. This email includes a link to download the week’s citations and publications in Excel format.

Note that if none of your watched marks were cited or there were no subsequent publications, you will still receive the option to download the entire USPTO's citation list for the week.
Email:

The email will contain all the citations and publications for the week in the same formatting as the above next day emails.

Excel:

The Excel spreadsheet report contains 4 sheets:

  1. Watched Citations
    Watched Citations - contains all the marks that you are specifically assigned to in the Alt Legal docket as a collaborator, or monitoring that were cited, alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
  2. Watched Citations Published
    Watched Citations Published - contains the trademarks that have since become published since your monitored marks 2(d) citation alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
  3. All Citations across USPTO
    All Citations across the USPTO - all trademarks that have been cited alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
  4. All USPTO Citations Published
    All Citations Published - all trademarks that were previously cited and are now published  alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
Here are some helpful blog articles on how to use the All Citations sheets, and our 2(d) watch in your practice:
How to Use Alt Legal’s Section 2(d) Trademark Watch Service to Generate New Business and Impress Your Clients
Policing your Clients marks with a 2(d) Watch Service and More

Monthly Reports

At the end of every month (or the beginning of the following month), Alt Legal sends a link to download the prior month's citations. You are given two links, one for just those marks that you are watching that were cited that month, and one to download the entire month's citations from across the USPTO.

These reports maintain the format of the Weekly Excel, just separated into two to keep file sizes low.

  1. Watched Citations
    Watched Citations - contains all the marks that you are specifically assigned to in the Alt Legal docket as a collaborator, or monitoring that were cited, alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
  2. Watched Citations Published
    Watched Citations Published - contains the trademarks that have since become published since your monitored marks 2(d) citation alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.

And for the all citations for the month:

  1. All Citations across USPTO
    All Citations across the USPTO - all trademarks that have been cited alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.
  2. All USPTO Citations Published
    All Citations Published - all trademarks that were previously cited and are now published  alongside the mark and office action they were cited in.

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