TTAB's Tougher Stance on Fraud in Trademark Applications and Registrations

Description

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently established a much stricter definition of fraud. This gives teeth to its warnings against trademark owners' and applicants' willful false statements -- the TTAB will deny an entire application or void an existing trademark registration if it finds fraud.

Trademark applicants, owners and their counsel must deal with the tougher standards that are emerging from the TTAB's recent rulings on pleading fraud.

Listen as our authoritative panel of intellectual property attorneys examines the recent trend at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board with regard to pleading fraud. The panel will discuss best practices to mitigate the risk of inaccurate applications and registrations.

Outline

1. State of the law and recent developments
   1. General legal background pre-Medinol
   2. Medinol Ltd. v. Neuro Vasx Inc. (2003)
   3. Since Medinol
   4. Differentiation of fraud and void ab initio grounds
2. Components of pleading fraud
   1. Test for fraud
   2. Procedural issues
   3. Considerations for plaintiffs
   4. Considerations for defendants
   5. Impact on opposition or cancellation proceeding
3. Best practices
   1. Use extreme care with use-based applications and statements of use
   2. Monitor use of marks
   3. Maintaining proof of use
   4. Timing of “cure” and what to do if you are too late
   5. Fraudit
   6. Consider seeking separate registrations for different classes of goods/services
   7. Battlegrounds of the future – where will the TTAB go from here?

Benefits

The panel will review 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?

CLE Credit

Strafford's live seminars qualify for CLE in every state that accredits webinars. They offer you a high quality, cost effective, and convenient CLE option, with no lost travel time or expenses.

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