TTAB Resolves Santana's Ownership Dispute, But Pamela Chestek is Dissatisfied

Pamela Chestek likes nothing more than a tangled trademark ownership dispute, particularly when it's an inter-family brouhaha, but she did not appreciate the TTAB's decision in Arturo Santana Gallego v. Santana's Grill, Inc., Cancellation Nos. 92043152, 92043160, and 92043175 (May 6, 2009) [not precedential]. She comments at length at her Property, Intangible blog (here).


Says Ms. Chestek:

Sometimes the TTAB is an alternative reality. *** The TTAB reached a conclusion that may be right, but in a way that is so doctrinally irrelevant that we can't know.

***By ignoring the true relationship of the parties and pretending that this is simply about two marks adopted separately, we wind up with dodgy reasoning inconsistent with the rest of trademark law.

That should grab your attention.

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2009.