(a) Upon the filing of an application for registration and payment of the fee provided in section 35-11c, the Secretary of the State shall cause the application to be examined to ensure conformity with sections 35-11a to 35-11c, inclusive.

(b) The applicant shall provide any additional pertinent information requested by the Secretary of the State including a description of a design mark, and the applicant may make, or authorize the secretary to make, such amendments to the application as may be reasonably requested by the secretary or deemed by the applicant to be advisable to respond to any rejection or objection.

(c) The Secretary of the State may require the applicant to disclaim an unregistered component of a mark otherwise registrable, and an applicant may voluntarily disclaim a component of a mark sought to be registered.

(d) No disclaimer shall prejudice or affect the applicant's or registrant's rights of registration on another application if the disclaimed matter is or becomes distinctive of the applicant's or registrant's goods or services.

(e) If the applicant is found not to be entitled to registration, the Secretary of the State shall advise the applicant thereof and of the reasons therefor. The applicant shall have a reasonable period of time specified by the Secretary of the State in which to reply or amend his application, which shall then be reexamined. This procedure may be repeated until (1) the Secretary of the State finally refuses registration of the mark or (2) the applicant fails to reply or amend within the specified period, whereupon the application shall be deemed to have been abandoned.

(f) If the Secretary of the State finally refuses registration of the mark, the applicant may seek a writ of mandamus to compel such registration. Such writ may be granted, but without costs to the Secretary of the State, on proof that all the statements in the application are true and that the mark is otherwise entitled to registration.

(g) In the instance of concurrent applications for registration of the same or confusingly similar marks for the same or related goods or services, the Secretary of the State shall grant the registration to the applicant alleging the first date of use in the application for registration and reject the other application or applications. If any rejected applicant considers that he has prior or superior rights to the mark, he may bring an action for cancellation of the registration.

(1963, P.A. 51, S. 4; P.A. 73-483, S. 2; P.A. 93-152, S. 4.)

History: P.A. 73-483 added Subsec. (d) re procedure where secretary receives concurrent applications to register same or confusingly similar marks; P.A. 93-152 inserted a new Subsec. (b) to require the applicant to “provide any additional pertinent information requested by the secretary of the state”, formerly part of Subsec. (a), require the applicant to include a description of a design mark when requested and authorize amendments to the application to respond to any rejection or objection, inserted a new Subsec. (c) re disclaimer of a component of a mark, inserted a new Subsec. (d) re effect of a disclaimer on another application, relettered the remaining Subsecs. accordingly and amended Subsec. (e)(2) to add “or amend”.