1904.02(e)(ii) Limitations
The holder of an international registration may record a limitation of the good/services, which may affect some or all of the designated Contracting Parties. Article 9bis(iii). Upon recordation, the IB will notify the USPTO if the U.S. is affected by the limitation. The recording of a limitation does not remove the goods/services concerned from the international registration, but simply narrows the goods/services for which the holder seeks protection in the particular countries affected.
A limitation may set forth particular goods/services narrower in scope than the goods/services as identified in the international registration. For example, if the international registration covers "clothing," the holder may limit the goods to "sweaters and pants" with respect to the U.S. Upon notification by the IB, if the examining attorney considers that the change requested is not in fact a limitation but an expansion of the list of goods/services, or is otherwise unacceptable, then the USPTO may declare that the limitation has no effect in the United States. Common Regs. 27(5)(a)-(c). For example, if the goods are identified as "clothing" in the international registration, and the limitation specifies "sweaters and hair bows," the examining attorney must refuse to apply the "hair bows" portion of the limitation to the request for extension of protection to the United States because it expands, rather than limits, the scope of the goods of the international registration.
See TMEP §1906.01(e) regarding the filing of a request to record a limitation with the IB; TMEP §1904.03(g) regarding limitations in pending §66(a) applications; and TMEP §1904.15 regarding limitations in registered extensions of protection to the United States.