19 CFR 133.2 – Application to record trademark
An application to record one or more trademarks shall be in writing, addressed to the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) & Restricted Merchandise Branch, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20229, and shall include the following information:
Terms Used In 19 CFR 133.2
- CBP: means U. See 19 CFR 101.1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Country: means the political entity known as a nation. See 19 CFR 134.1
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- United States: includes all territories and possessions of the United States, except the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Wake Island, Midway Islands, Kingman Reef, Johnston Island, and the island of Guam. See 19 CFR 134.1
(a) The name, complete business address, and citizenship of the trademark owner or owners (if a partnership, the citizenship of each partner; if an association or corporation the State, country, or other political jurisdiction within which it was organized, incorporated, or created);
(b) The places of manufacture of goods bearing the recorded trademark;
(c) The name and principal business address of each foreign person or business entity authorized or licensed to use the trademark and a statement as to the use authorized; and
(d) The identity of any parent or subsidiary company or other foreign company under common ownership or control which uses the trademark abroad. For this purpose:
(1) Common ownership means individual or aggregate ownership of more than 50 percent of the business entity; and
(2) Common control means effective control in policy and operations and is not necessarily synonymous with common ownership.
(e) Lever-rule protection. For owners of U.S. trademarks who desire protection against gray market articles on the basis of physical and material differences (see Lever Bros. Co. v. United States, 981 F.2d 1330 (D.C. Cir. 1993)), a description of any physical and material difference between the specific articles authorized for importation or sale in the United States and those not so authorized. In each instance, owners who assert that physical and material differences exist must state the basis for such a claim with particularity, and must support such assertions by competent evidence and provide summaries of physical and material differences for publication. CBP determination of physical and material differences may include, but is not limited to, considerations of:
(1) The specific composition of both the authorized and gray market product(s) (including chemical composition);
(2) Formulation, product construction, structure, or composite product components, of both the authorized and gray market product;
(3) Performance and/or operational characteristics of both the authorized and gray market product;
(4) Differences resulting from legal or regulatory requirements, certification, etc.;
(5) Other distinguishing and explicitly defined factors that would likely result in consumer deception or confusion as proscribed under applicable law.
(f) CBP will publish in the Customs Bulletin a notice listing any trademark(s) and the specific products for which gray market protection for physically and materially different products has been requested. CBP will examine the request(s) before issuing a determination whether gray market protection is granted. For parties requesting protection, the application for trademark protection will not take effect until CBP has made and issued this determination. If protection is granted, CBP will publish in the Customs Bulletin a notice that a trademark will receive Lever-rule protection with regard to a specific product.