South Carolina § 39-15-1120 - Application, registration of mark, examination and amendment.

§ 39-15-1120. Application, registration of mark, examination and amendment.

(A) Upon the filing of an application for registration and payment of the application fee, the secretary may examine the application for conformity with this article.

(B) The applicant shall provide additional pertinent information requested by the secretary including a description of a design mark and may make or authorize the secretary to make amendments to the application as may be reasonably requested by the secretary or considered by the applicant to be advisable to respond to a rejection or objection.

(C) The secretary may require the applicant to disclaim an unregisterable component of a mark otherwise registerable, and an applicant may voluntarily disclaim a component of a mark sought to be registered. No disclaimer may prejudice or affect the applicant's or registrant's rights then existing or thereafter arising in the disclaimed matter or 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.

(D) Amendments may be made by the secretary to the application submitted by the applicant with the applicant's consent, or the secretary may require that the applicant submit a fresh application.

(E) If the applicant is found not to be entitled to registration, the secretary shall notify the applicant of this and of the reasons registration was denied. The applicant must be given a reasonable period of time specified by the secretary in which to reply or to amend the application, after which the application must be reexamined. This procedure may be repeated until the secretary finally refuses registration of the mark or the applicant fails to reply or amend within the specified period, at which time the application is deemed to have been abandoned.

(F) If the secretary finally refuses registration of the mark, the applicant may appeal the decision to the circuit court in Richland County in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act without costs to the secretary.

(G) In the instance of applications concurrently being processed by the secretary seeking registration of the same or confusingly similar marks for the same or related goods or services, the secretary shall grant priority to the applications in order of filing. If a prior-filed application is granted a registration, the other application or applications must be rejected. A rejected applicant may bring an action for cancellation of the registration upon grounds of prior or superior rights to the mark in accordance with Section 39-15-1145 of this article.

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 486, SECTION 1, eff 3 months after July 13, 1994.