CEA Applied For 'Consumer Technology Association' Service Mark Status Aug. 25, PTO Records Show

CEA paid the $275 application filing fee Aug. 25 to request that "Consumer Technology Association" and its CTA acronym be granted a registered service mark, Patent and Trademark Office records show. PTO stamped the application “accepted” Aug. 28 and scheduled it for assignment to an examining attorney for late November under customary procedures that take three months, the records show. CEA's executive board approved the name change in August, and it became official when it cleared a voice vote at CEA's annual membership meeting Monday in New York (see 1511100012). The “international class” of service mark being applied for “consists of standard characters, without claim to any particular font, style, size, or color,” says the PTO application (serial number 86736040), which was filed on CEA’s behalf by Wiley Rein partner Christopher Kelly, the records show. The service mark will be used for “organizing and conducting trade shows in the field of electronics/technology and computers and associated products and services and related hardware, software and systems,” but also “lobbying services, namely, promoting the interests of the computer, technology, digital and electronics industry before federal and state legislators,” says a 300-word description accompanying the application. PTO records show the trade group has no plans to retire the CEA service mark (registration number 3448503) anytime soon. CEA filed a “combined declaration of use and incontestability” Dec. 9 to keep the service mark. PTO agreed in a Dec. 30 notice of acceptance and acknowledgment that the CEA service mark will remain in force at least through June 2018, unless withdrawn by CEA or nullified by a federal court.