IP Cases on Supreme Court Docket: October 2015 Term

Wolters Kluwer, in its IP Law Daily newsletter, provided a chart here listing the current "U.S. Supreme Court Docket, October 2015 Term — Intellectual Property Cases," with links to the docket sheet, the lower court ruling, and many of the pertinent briefs. Patent cases overwhelm the trademark cases in number. We will note below the few of the latter variety that concern TTAB-related matters.

Shammas v. Hirschfeld, formerly known as Shammas v. Focarino: Pending petition for a writ of certioriari from a ruling of the Fourth Circuit that in a Section 1071(b) civil action for review of an ex parte TTAB decision, the plaintiff/applicant must pay the PTO's expenses (including attorney and paralegal fees), win or lose (allegedly contrary to the "American Rule"). [TTABlogged here]. The USPTO filed is brief in response to the petition on February 3, 2016.

New Millennium Sports, S.L.U. v. Jack Wolfskin Ausrustung fur Draussen GmbH & Co. KGaA: Petition for certioriari denied on January 5, 2016. Sought review of a CAFC decision [TTABlogged here], which held that evidence of third-party use is "powerful on its face" even when the specific extent and impact of the usage has not been proven. The CAFC reversed a TTAB decision that had found the marks shown below to be confusingly similar for clothing items.

Couture v. Playdom: Petition for certioriari denied on October 5, 2015. David Couture sought review of the CAFC's ruling [TTABlogged here] that his application to register a service mark for certain entertainment services was void ab initio because he had not "rendered" the services prior to the date of filing his use-based application.

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Text Copyright John L. Welch 2016.