So as to set the stage appropriately, you are the owner of a trademark, either underneath common law or pursuant to a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) trademark registration, and you have got identified what you deem to be a pending USPTO trademark application that is likely to cause consumer confusion. You've got not only discovered that this third party is employing a trademark that you believe constitutes trademark infringement, but you've got also identified, likely through the utilization of trademark monitoring, that the opposition amount for this USPTO trademark is upcoming. The question becomes - what do you are doing next?
The USPTO includes a body referred to as the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. This board, commonly called the TTAB, handles trademark oppositions based mostly upon a selection of reasons. For instance, the registration of the pending mark in this case would be challenged as a result of it is confusing similar to an existing mark to that you claim previous rights. However, there are more reasons that a trademark could be opposed during the opposition amount, such as the very fact that it is generic, disparaging, or fraudulent. Regardless, you only have thirty days inside that to file a notice of opposition with the TTAB. This 30-day period is known as the opposition period. This opposition period occurs when the pending trademark application is printed for opposition in what's known as the Official Gazette.
If your goal is to make sure that your mark remains protected and enforceable which there is no shopper confusion in the marketplace, you want to decide the way to approach this infringing use. While a trademark infringement lawsuit pursuant to the Lanham Act in federal court is an possibility, it's necessary that you furthermore may think about a TTAB opposition proceeding. The opposition proceeding allows one to file a notice of opposition, that is reminiscent of a grievance in litigation, and show why the mark should not be registered. The administrative proceeding is similar to litigation in that there are needs underneath the federal rules which at intervals the TTAB are noted specifically as its Trademark Rules of Practice. Once the notice of opposition is filed, a typical opposition proceeding can include the following:
Time to answer
Deadline for discovery
Discovery opens
Initial disclosures due
Professional disclosures due
Discovery closes
Plaintiff's pre-trial disclosures
Plaintiff's thirty-day trial amount ends
Defendant's pre-trial disclosures
Defendant's thirty-day trial period ends
Plaintiff's rebuttal disclosures
Plaintiff's 15-day rebuttal period ends
At the conclusion of the aforementioned phases, the TTAB can issue a decision as to whether or to not sustain the opposition. If successful, the opposition will be sustained and also the trademark can not be permitted to be registered.
While ultimately you would not solely need to confirm that they did not receive a trademark with the USPTO, you'd conjointly wish to make sure that every one use stopped. Whereas an order from court of law would be required to make sure that all use stops or to collect monetary damages, a TTAB ruling might be the impetus necessary to cause the alleged trademark infringer to stop all use of the mark. More importantly, it's usually cheaper than trademark litigation and brings all issues immediately to the attention of the parties concerned so on enable the chance of a resolution. Thus, a TTAB trademark opposition ought to be thought-about as part of any trademark owner's enforcement strategy.
Author Resource:-
Nikky has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Alternative, you can also check out his latest website about:
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites