PTO Mistakenly Re-Publishes 143 Marks for Opposition

A Notice issued yesterday by the USPTO states:

"The October 4, 2005 Official Gazette includes 143 trademark applications that were published for opposition by mistake. Each of these applications had been published for opposition previously; the statement of use had been accepted; and the application had been allowed for registration pursuant to §1(d) of the Trademark Act. Due to a processing error, the applications were assigned a new publication date instead of a registration date.

"These applications have been withdrawn from publication. Regarding these cases, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) will not accept oppositions or requests for extension of time to file an opposition that are based on the October 4, 2005 publication date. Anyone considering filing an opposition to, or request for extension of time to oppose, any application that published in the October 4, 2005 Official Gazette, should first review the prosecution history of the application in the Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval (TARR) system on the USPTO website. If the prosecution history indicates “second publication in error," the TTAB will not accept an opposition or a request for extension of time to file an opposition based on the October 4, 2005 publication date. Note that although some applications may indicate that the application has been “withdrawn” from publication, only those applications that also indicate “second publication in error” are not subject to opposition. For any questions concerning this matter please contact Bonita Royall at 571-272-4382 or bonita.royall@uspto.gov."

TTABlog comment: Please tell me that FEMA's Michael Brown hasn't landed at the PTO!