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October 19th, 2016
Get Ready for New Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Rules
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the "Board") has announced a number of changes to the Trademark Rules of Practice, to take effect on January 14, 2017. The new rules will apply to all proceedings that are pending on, or filed after, that date.
The changes aim to provide more efficiency and clarity to Board proceedings by reducing burdens and better reflecting current technology. A full breakdown of the changes can be found here. Among the most notable are:
- Parties are no longer required to serve Notices of Opposition or Petitions to Cancel - the Board will do that electronically once the documents are filed;
- All filings must be made through the Board's electronic filing system, ESTTA, with exceptions permitted only if ESTAA is unavailable or a party experiences extraordinary circumstances;
- Testimony can be submitted by declaration or affidavit, subject to the right to cross-examine;
- All service of documents between parties must be by email. Consequently, the five-day extended response period for physically mailed service will be deleted;
- Requests for documents and admissions are limited to 75 each, and all discovery, including production, must take place during the six-month discovery period (thus, discovery requests must be served early enough to ensure this requirement is met); and
- The Board's standard protective order will be automatically imposed in all inter partes proceedings.
If you have any questions about proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board or other trademark and brand management matters, please contact Catherine M.C. Farrelly at (212) 826 5579 or cfarrelly@fkks.com or any other member of the Frankfurt Kurnit Trademark & Brand Management Group.
Other Intellectual Property Law Alerts
Avoid New Trademark Email Scams
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is the subject of some new and sophisticated email rackets. Read more.
December 22 2020
What Does Brexit Mean for Your UK Trademark Rights?
On January 31, 2020, the UK will formally withdraw from the European Union, and brand owners who have relied on their EU trademark applications and registrations for protection in the UK will need to make sure that their rights are secured in the UK. Read more.
January 31 2020
Supreme Court Says “Scandalous” Trademarks May be Registered
Here’s some news for brands, creators, and other entities developing nonconforming names or entertainment content. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that FUCT and other profane, “scandalous” or “immoral” words may be registered as trademarks. Read more.
June 26 2019
