TTAB's Tougher Stance on Fraud in Trademark Applications

The TTAB recently established a more unforgiving definition of fraud. It gives teeth to TTAB's warnings against trademark owners' and applicants' willful false statements with its willingness to deny an entire application or void an existing trademark registration upon a finding of fraud.

Trademark applicants, owners and their counsel must deal with the tougher standards that are emerging out of TTAB rulings on pleading fraud.

Listen as our authoritative panel of intellectual property attorneys examines the recent trend at the TTAB, pleading fraud, and discusses best practices to mitigate the risk of inaccurate applications and registrations.

The panel included:

Stephen R. Baird, Shareholder, Winthrop & Weinstine, Minneapolis. He heads the firm's Intellectual Property and Trademark and Brand Management Practice groups and handles trademark litigation matters in proceedings in federal court and before the TTAB. He counsels clients on trademark usage and clearance, branding strategies, portfolio management, litigation and enforcement, internet domain name disputes, licensing and prosecution.

Jennifer Lee Taylor, Partner, Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco. She focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling. She has extensive experience litigating opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She counsels clients on trademark and copyright matters, including registering trademarks, service marks and copyrights, managing portfolios, policing marks and copyrights, and licensing agreements.

Beth A. Chapman, Of Counsel, Oblon Spivak McClelland Maier & Neustadt, Alexandria, Va. She is a member of the firm's Trademark and Copyright Department. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Judge (1998–2005). Before her judicial appointment, she served as an examining attorney, then a managing attorney of a law office, before taking a position as an interlocutory attorney at the TTAB.

The panel reviewed these and other key questions:

• What is the current state of the law concerning allegations of fraud before the TTAB?
• What are the next steps for plaintiffs and defendants in the event of fraud pleadings?
• What strategies and procedures should trademark owners utilize to mitigate the risk of fraud allegations?

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