Parties Respond to TTAB Order in Oldest Pending Case

Counsel for the parties in the oldest pending TTAB case, United Black Fund v. National Black United Fund, Inc., Cancellation No. 92013503, have responded (here) to the Board's Order of January 20, 2010 [TTABlogged here]. The proceeding has been suspended for nearly 25 years in view of a civil action in the Maryland federal court, which action has itself been administratively closed since 1984.


Counsel for the parties now request a 60-day extension of time "to memorialize understandings reached since the 'administrative closing'" of the federal civil action.

With respect to the "administrative closing," this "closing" occurred during a meeting with the parties' attorneys in the chambers of Judge John Hargrove (deceased) on June 8, 1984 (Exhibit A) [not attached - ed.] during which Judge Hargrove announced that the case was "administratively closed" and that he was obtaining all files from the clerk's office and would lock the files in his closet. A search so far of our files revealed no further communication from Judge Hargrove regarding this case. This administrative closing, a concept unfamiliar to the undersigned attorneys and other attorneys with whom they have consulted, has given the parties sufficient time to settle their grievances and to develop a spirit of cooperation, as well as actual cooperation. Thus the undersigned will take steps to have the Baltimore case formally discussed [dismissed? - ed.], if unknown to the undersigned, this has not already occurred.

The parties also note that "In the time allotted for this response, the parties have not been able to access all of their records in that a substantial portion of the records are in storage."

So there you go. It looks like we may have soon have to begin looking for a new "oldest pending TTAB case."

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2010.