Merchant & Gould Offers "Proposed Changes to TTAB Rules Webinar Presentation"

The Merchant & Gould law firm is offering a free webinar on March 15th on the proposed TTAB Rule Changes. See the announcement below. If you would like to "attend," you must respond to the invitation found here by March 14th. [I'm told that the term "webinar" means that those who sign up will participate in a conference telephone call while a PowerPoint presentation is broadcast on the Internet.]

The Merchant & Gould Trademark Group presents:

TITLE: Proposed Changes to TTAB Practice Webinar

DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 2006

TIME: 9:00-10:00 a.m. CST

The Trademark Office has proposed significant procedural changes to contested proceedings. The proposed changes, which move TTAB practice even closer to Federal Rules practice, include:

* Party service of Notices of Opposition, Petitions for Cancellation

* Detailed Mandatory Initial Disclosures (with expected disclosure of information on origin of mark, dates of use, actual confusion evidence, third party use, non-trademark use of mark, classes of customers, channels of trade, current and past use of mark, surveys, other disputes related to mark)

* Expert disclosures, including identification and summary of subjects on which witness will testify

* Mandatory party discovery conference

* TTAB protective order form as the default order (in force absent party stipulation)

The TTAB is taking comments on the proposed rules until March 20, 2006. Learn how the proposed rules could greatly change TTAB practice and discuss possible comments.

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