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Trademark Law Summary
Miscellaneous Changes to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Rules
PTO–T–2005–014, 37 CFR Part 2, RIN 0651–AB56, 08/01/2007
Basic Information
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) of the Department of Commerce has issued amendments to the Trademark Rules of Practice (trademark rules): (1) directing plaintiffs in Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) inter partes proceedings to serve on defendants their complaints or claims; (2) providing the use in TTAB inter partes proceedings a modified form of the disclosure practices included in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (3) directing the deletion of the option of making submissions to the TTAB in CD-ROM form; and (4) clarifying other rules of practice, and editing typographical or non-substantial errors or deviations from standard terminology.
According to the PTO, this set of amendments to the Rules of Practice will take effect on November 1, 2007, except the amendments for the following rules, which will become effective on August 31, 2007: 2.105(a); 2.113(a), and removal of (e); 2.116(g); 2.118; 2.119(b)(6); 2.120(d)(1); 2.122(d)(1); 2.126(a)(6), removal of (b) and redesignation of (c) and (d) as (b) and (c); 2.127(a) and (c); 2.129(a); 2.133(a) and (b); 2.142(e)(1); 2.173(a); and 2.176.
As announced by the USPTO, these amendments will serve to improve the efficiency of the processes for the institution of inter partes cases, and “take account of the Board’s deployment in recent years of electronic filing options and the increased availability and use of the facsimile and e-mail as methods of communication between parties involved in inter partes cases.” Likewise, the USPTO justified the adoption of these changes in the rules by claiming that such amendments will serve to improve the system of exchange of discovery and pre-trial information between parties involved in inter partes proceedings, through the use of a revised form of disclosure practice that is likewise in use in the federal district courts. Such practices, according to the USPTO, have been observed in the courts to increase the chances of settling cases, or their chances of an earlier settlement, and promote greater exchange of information.
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