skip page navigation

Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo
scroll downscroll up

Ever wonder what some of that stuff really means when you try to read legal notices and instructions? Do real people talk that way? Is it a secret code? What do all those silly letters mean anyway?

People use short words made up from the words in longer phrases as a way to remember things - a word like modem is easier to remember and say than modulator-demodulator. Likewise, ROY G BIV is a way to remember the colors of the rainbow:  red- orange- yellow- green- blue-indigo- violet. Shortened terms that seem like real words are called "acronyms." Other terms are just abbreviations - like CFR and USC - that don't seem like real words, but they are made up by using the first letter of each word in the phrase.

Shortened ways of saying things make for shorter, easier to read documents, at least if you know what the new-fangled terms mean. To add to the confusion, the same acronym or abbreviation can mean something very different when used by a person in a different kind of job.

Our main job at the USPTO is to issue patents and register trademarks in accordance with the intellectual property laws of the United States Government. A lot of people like to call what you might run into in our business "legal MUMBO JUMBO" or "legalese."

Below is a whole pot of MUMBO JUMBO GUMBO.
Sure hope you're hungry for learning! Enjoy the "MJG"!

USC and CFR


What is a
(35 USC §123(a))
or a
(15 CFR 123(a))?

*A citation is a listing for a law or regulation which includes the title or chapter number, the name of the collection, and the sections and paragraph numbers.

 

USC means United States Code and CFR means Code of Federal Regulations

These citations* are shorthand for the laws and regulations that explain in precise terms what is needed in order for the Federal government to do business. Each is a citation which refers to a particular section of the law or its implementing regulations.

Each law is signed by the President after being enacted by votes of the House of Representatives and Senate. Many new laws are assigned a number in the United States Code which reflects their relationship to similar laws or laws that govern similar programs. The way laws are created follow a formal process which you can learn more about from "How Our Laws are Made."

The Code of Federal Regulations is written to explain in detail how the laws are to be carried out. When a law is written, it usually does not explain in great detail what procedures are to be followed, nor does it include descriptions of the special situations which can arise. This is the job of the regulations, which govern the day-to-day business of the Federal government.

Regulations are actually written by the government agencies responsible for the subject matter of the laws. The United States Patent and Trademark Office writes the regulations concerning patents and trademarks which are found in Title 37 of the CFR.

Below are diagrams explaining how to read these notations:

Citations of United States Code

To look up a particular law, go to hyperlink to the USC digital libraries or FedLaw

Citations of Code of Federal Regulations
To look up a particular regulation, go to the CFR digital libraries


What is a
DOCKET
and a
DOCKET NUMBER
?

 

For our purposes, a docket number is a number assigned by an attorney (or customer) to help them identify the files and related papers for a particular patent or trademark application.

Legal dictionaries refer to docket numbers in the very limited context of cases to be heard by a court.

 

The origins of the term, docket, are unknown.

The term docket has several meanings. It can mean:

  • a special summary of the legal actions on a particular case,
  • a register of such summaries,
  • a list of cases to be heard by a court, or
  • the list of cases on which an attorney must work.

For our purposes, when we request a docket number on our forms, it is this last definition that we are using - a kind of attorney's "to do" list. This last use, by the way, is the least legally precise definition of the term. Legal dictionaries provide the first three preferred definitions.

A docket number is simpler to use than the entire title of a case and less confusing - an attorney's clients could have multiple proceedings or case files with very similar labels. It is also easier to search for a short number than for a long title of a case file. There is a greater chance of an exact match on a simple number than there is for an exact match on a title when searching for it.

By the way, you don't have to be an attorney to have a docket number. Anyone can have their own docket number to help distinguish among their applications - just keep them simple and use a consistent numbering scheme.

We ask for docket numbers on application forms because it helps us to positively identify and keep together incoming papers before an official application serial number can be assigned.

We assign unique application serial numbers to each file upon receipt so that we can more easily locate, track and report the progress of applications as they are processed.

The availability of a docket number makes it easier to confirm that we have placed all the right documents together in our newly created files. It also makes it easier to identify and associate papers that have been accidentally separated from an incoming file or that arrive separately before an application serial number can be assigned by us and made available to the applicant.


What is a
HOUSE MARK
or a
PRODUCT MARK
?

House marks and product marks often appear together on a product label.

 

Both house marks and product marks are special kinds of trademarks.

A house mark identifies the company or division that is the maker or seller of the product, or offerer of a service. It can also be used to identify a particular grouping of products as a product line. A product mark identifies the particular product or service that is being sold.

A company can have more than one house mark to identify different product lines.

For example, a company named ABCDEFG could offer a product called Ruffletops. The label could say "ABCDEFG Ruffletops." ABCDEFG would be the house mark and Ruffletops would be the product mark.

In another example, ABCDEFG might sell two product lines, one called NaturaRuffle and the other called TechnoRuffle. They might offer a suite of products for each:

  • NaturaRuffle Iceytops,
  • NaturaRuffle Muddytops,
  • NaturaRuffle Sandytops
  • TechnoRuffle Buzzytops,
  • TechnoRuffle Zappytops,
  • TechnoRuffle Whirlytops.

All are made by ABCDEFG, but each grouping of related products is distinguished by its own house mark.

You can have fun identifying house and product marks next time you go shopping!

Want to learn more?

View the full USPTO Glossary in a new window

 

[ USPTO Home ][ Kids' Home ][ Twinkle Lights ][ Bright Lights ][ Guiding Lights ][ Fun House ]
[ imagination machine ][ whowhatwhenwherehowwhy ][ time machine ]
[ games ][ puzzles ][ links ][ help ][ search ]
[ Legal Disclaimer ][ Privacy ]
[kids' home] Home [legal disclaimer] [privacy] [twinkle lights] Twinkle Lights - K to 6th [bright lights] Bright Lights - 6th to 12th [guiding lights] Guiding Lights - parents, teachers and coaches [search Kids' Pages ] Search with FirstGov [link] Fun House [uspto.gov] USPTO seal [home] USPTO Kids' Pages [uspto.gov] United States Patent and Trademark Office