TPAC Meeting This Friday Will Explore Ramifications of Bose Decision

The Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) will hold a public meeting on Friday morning, November 20, 2009, at USPTO Headquarters, Madison Auditorium, Concourse Level, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. The meeting will be run from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM and will be webcast.[Agenda here]. An important area for discussion will be the ramifications of the CAFC's fraud decision in Bose for PTO and TTAB operations.


TTAB Acting Chief Judge Gerard Rogers will discuss TTAB matters beginning at 10:15 AM:

• Discussion of current TTAB speed statistics and case volume statistics.
• Status report on getting TBMP up to date, easily searchable and in HTML.
• Report on current status of Accelerated Case Review: 1. What is the current level of usage? 2. Will or should there be developed more procedures or structure available to potential users of ACR?
• What steps has the TTAB taken, and what steps (if any) does it plan to take, in the wake of the Federal Circuit decision in In re Bose Corp.

Beginning at 10:35, Trademark Commissioner Lynne Beresford will have an hour to address a number of topics, including:

Discussion of what steps the Trademark Operation should take, if any, in the wake of the Federal Circuit decision in In re Bose Corp, to minimize the amount of “deadwood” on the trademark registers. (“Deadwood” is mark registrations for marks on which the mark was not in use in commerce as of use declaration.) Non-exclusive ideas for discussion:

1. Should any special action be taken regarding applications claiming a large number of goods/services?

2. Should proof of mark usage be required on each item of goods/services?

3. Should there be a procedure by which a third party can require an interim proof of use of a mark by a mark registrant on some or all goods/services covered in a registration?

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2009.