Prof. Curtin Files Reply to Opposition to Petition for Certiorari in RAPUNZEL Consumer Standing Case

Petitioner/Opposer/Appellant Rebecca Curtin has filed her Reply [here] to UTH's Opposition to her Petition for Writ of Certiorari. The case has been distributed for conference on April 17, 2026.

The Court has long held that the standards applicable to administrative agencies and federal courts differ. Indeed, the Court eighty-five years ago instructed that the “vital differentiations between the functions of judicial and administrative tribunals” must be observed. FCC v. Pottsville Broad. Co., 309 U.S. 134, 144 (1940). The Federal Circuit has disregarded that admonishment by imposing doctrines restricting access to federal courts, such as the zone-of-interests test, on administrative trademark opposition proceedings. That not only conflicts with this Court’s decisions, but also with the decisions of the Third, Fifth, and D.C. Circuits, which hold that such restrictions do not apply to administrative agencies.

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The importance of the issue presented further reinforces the need for this Court’s review. And this case is the appropriate vehicle to address the question presented. UTH suggests the result would be the same under the test that existed before the Federal Circuit’s errant decision in this case. But that suggestion ignores the record in this case. The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (“Board”) concluded that Curtin satisfied the long-standing test from Ritchie v. Simpson, 170 F.3d 1092 (Fed. Cir. 1999), that governed who may participate in opposition proceedings. Only after improperly importing the test from Lexmark—requiring the zone-of-interests and proximate-causation tests—did the Board change position. The resolution of the question presented is of consequence to this case.

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Text Copyright John L. Welch 2026.