10th April 2012

The Case Officer,

OHIM

203 Chingford Road, London E17 5AB Tel. : 020 31377737 Fax. : 020 31373337
www.promptmedia.co.uk

REF: 3rd Party Observations AGAINST Trademark Application No. 010441715 on grounds of the mark being descriptive

Dear Sir / Madam,

We would like to put in 3rd party observations against the granting of the Trademark name Bannersaver, application no 010441715 by Smakdapp Ltd. We feel the trademark should not be granted on the grounds the name is: completely descriptive, is describing a function of the product, is describing a type of products which are already in use, the name is already being used by a lot manufactured & resellers to describe these types of products.

Granting this application will mean all the companies already selling this product this product will be made liable for using a name which is clearly descriptive name. We provide our finding below and please ask you to refuse the application on the same grounds. Definition of the words BANNER & SAVER: Banner - A banner is a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message. Saver - To preserve a person or thing from harm or loss Descriptive based on function The function of the product is to install and save banners on lamppost from tearing / ripping / falling. The applicant has simply combined the word Banner & Saver, which describes the function of the product, i.e., to safeguard banners against wind damage whilst they are installed on lampposts / columns / masts / walls. M/s Smakdapp Inc should not be allowed to trademark a function of a product, as all other products which also have the same function and name will be affected.

When the product was patented approx. 19yrs ago in the USA only and the name it was patented under was Banner Bracket. Subsequently other manufacturers around the world have used the same or upgraded designs of the product and all have called this product by the functional name of Banner Saver in various combinations and therefore the name is now synonymous with this type of product rather than Smakdapp Inc product. We have listed several examples in the section below for your perusal and to prove our case.

Other Manufacturer / Resellers using identical / derivative names to describe this type of product Prompt Media Ltd: We ourselves sell this type of bracket and call it Lamppost Banner Saver Brackets and do not want to be affected by liability claims made by Smakdapp for breaching their trademark. Please see PM01 or our website www.promptmedia.co.uk. Britten claim to have the registered mark of BannerSaver in the USA, not Smakdapp, Inc. They also use the name to BannerSaver to describe the same product. Please see Exhibit PM02 UK seller calls the product Bay Banner Saver, which describes their version of the same product, demonstrating that product is being described by this name. Please see Exhibit PM03 Reseller of the Banner Saver Products to Europe. Please see Exhibit PM04 Produo also manufacture their version of this type of product and call it BannerSaver identical to the trademark applied for and also claim to already export to the EU as well other continents. Please see Exhibit PM05 Another UK reseller calls the product Flexi-arm Banner Saver Bracket System. Please see Exhibit PM06 This company also claims to manufacture and sell the identical product under the same name Banner Saver please see exhibit PM07 Their version of the bracket is called Jinchum Banner Saver Please see exhibit PM08 They are also calling their version of this bracket Banner Saver Bracket. Please see Exhibit PM09 This company has the same type of product and calls it Lamppost Banner Saver Brackets. They even have a website called www.bannersaver.co.uk. This company would also be affected on both the product and name liability of the website. Please see exhibit PM10. For your information this website has

Britten, Inc

Bay Media Ltd :

Dongguan Produo Gift Trade Co., Ltd Produo industrial Co. Ltd :

Genesis :

Rja Technology, Llc :

Honey Gifts Co. Ltd :

Ameron international :

Pactra :

been registered before the this application for trademark was made. As you can clearly see that we have demonstrated that this application must be rejected on the grounds of it being descriptive and made in bad faith to cause liability and passing off claims amongst other manufacturers and resellers of this type of product. We therefore humbly ask you take these points into consideration when making to grant this application. The inference that can be drawn from this application is that M/S Smakdapp, Inc want to snatch the Trademark for their ulterior motives and hence in our view this application must be rejected, otherwise it may open PANDORAs Box for many manufacturers and resellers.

Many Thanks Kaushal Shah