a written communication sent by an Examining Attorney from the USPTO, requesting a response from the trademark applicant regarding a matter related to the application for a trademark filed with the USPTO

An official written communication from an examiner in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office giving the position of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on a pending patent application. After receiving an adverse office action, the applicant must respond within the set time limits.

a formal response by a patent examiner regarding a patent application or amendment.

An office action is the official term used to describe the action an examiner takes concerning an application after he or she has sufficiently reviewed it. An examiner can choose to; object, reject or allow any or all claims during an office action. A typical patent prosecution consists of a first, second and final Office action.

An office action, in United States trademark law, is the name given to the rejection of an application to register a trademark issued by an examiner for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Typically, an office action will comprise one or both of two elements. The first element is the category of "informalities", matters such as an inadequate sample to show use of the mark, providing insufficient information with respect to the nature of the entity seeking the mark (for example, failing to name the partners in a partnership), or providing insufficient information for the examiner to determine what, exactly, the goods and services provided by the applicant are.