Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (or "TTAB") is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings filed against trademark applications. TTAB panels hear hundreds of claims each year asserting that trademarks should not be registered because they are generic, disparging, or confusingly similar to existing marks. Such challenges to registration are initially considered by trademark examiners, whose judgment may be appealed to the TTAB. Decisions of the TTAB may, in turn, be appealed to a United States district court, or the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The TTAB is also responsible for hearing certain kinds of inter partes proceedings, including oppositions to registration, cancellation proceedings against registered marks, and concurrent use proceedings where a party alleges its mark is entitled to joint registration, carving geographic territory out of that held by a registered mark.

[edit] Judges of the TTAB

There are currently nineteen judges sitting on the TTAB^[1]:

• J. David Sams, Chief Judge: Appointed to TTAB in 1981; Appointed Chief Judge, 1986; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; Petitions and Special Projects Attorney, Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks; Education: B.A., Davidson College; J.D., Vanderbilt University.

• Marc A. Bergsman: Appointed to TTAB in 2006; Prior professional experience: spent twelve years in private practice in the Washington, D.C. office of Dickinson Wright PLLC. Prior to that, Mr. Bergsman worked at the USPTO as a trademark examining attorney, trademark managing attorney, and, for five years, as an interlocutory attorney at the TTAB. He received his undergraduate degree from Miami University of Ohio and his law degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University.

• David E. Bucher: Appointed to TTAB in 1998; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney, 1981-84; Senior Examining Attorney, 1984-85; Legislative Assistant, Office of U.S. Senator Paul Simon, 1985-86; Director, Trademark Examining Organization, 1987-96; Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks, 1996-98; Education: B.A., Eastern Mennonite University (1974); J.D., George Washington University (1979).

• Peter W. Cataldo: Appointed to TTAB in 2006; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney; Education: B.A., Canisius College; J.D., Albany Law School.

• Albin F. Drost: Appointed to TTAB in 2001; Prior professional experience: Attorney in Judge Advocate General's Corps, 1979-1982; Trademark Examining Attorney 1983-1986; Associate Solicitor, Deputy Solicitor, Acting Solicitor in Office of Solicitor, 1986-January 2001; Education: B.A., College of the Holy Cross; J.D., Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University.

• Charles M. Grendel: Appointed to TTAB in 1999; Prior professional experience: Private Practitioner in Oregon, 1987-90; Trademark Examining Attorney, 1990-94; TTAB Attorney-Advisor, 1994-99; Education: B.A., Stanford University; J.D., University of Oregon School of Law.

• Paula T. Hairston: Appointed to TTAB in 1994; Prior professional experience: Interlocutory Attorney; Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks; Petitions and Special Projects Attorney; Education: B.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro; J.D., Catholic University of America.

• G. Douglas Hohein: Appointed to TTAB in 1990; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney, 1977-81; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney, 1981-90; Education: B.A. with highest distinction, University of Virginia; J.D., University of Virginia.

• Terry E. Holtzman: Appointed to TTAB in 1999; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney, 1983-90; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney, 1990-99; Education: B.A. with honors, American University; J.D., George Mason University.

• Karen Kuhlke: Appointed to TTAB in 2005; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney; Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, D.C.; Education: B.A., University of Kansas; M.A., Columbia University; J.D., Georgetown University.

• David Mermelstein: Appointed to TTAB in 2006: Prior professional experience: Served with the TTAB for six years as an interlocutory attorney and, since 2005, as the TTAB’s Supervisory Interlocutory Attorney. Before coming to the TTAB, he worked for several years as a trademark examining attorney. He received his undergraduate degree from New College, Hofstra University and his law degree from American University.

• T. Jeffrey Quinn: Appointed to TTAB in 1988; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney; Education: B.A., Tulane University; J.D., Tulane University School of Law.

• Gerard F. Rogers: Appointed to TTAB in 1999; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney, 1987-90; Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks, 1990-92; TTAB Staff Attorney, 1992-99; Education: J.D., magna cum laude, New England School of Law (1987).

• Ellen J. Seeherman: Appointed to TTAB in 1987; Prior professional experience: Associate, Fross, Zelnick, Lehrman & Zissu (New York, NY), 1975-81; Trademark Examining Attorney, 1982; Staff Assistant, Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks, 1982-1987; Education: A.B., Brandeis University (1972); J.D., New York University School of Law (1975).

• Jyll Taylor: Appointed to TTAB in 2006; Prior professional experience: Served with distinction for nearly ten years as a TTAB interlocutory attorney, and previously as a trademark examining attorney. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her law degree from Howard University School of Law.

• James Walsh: Appointed to TTAB in 2005; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; USPTO Administrator for Trademark Policy and Procedure; TMEP Editor; Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C.; Education: B.A., College of the Holy Cross; J.D., Georgetown University.

• Carlisle Walters: Appointed to TTAB in 1996; Prior professional experience: Office of Legislative and International Affairs, Trademark Counsel; Administrator for Trademark Legal Policy for Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks; TMEP Editor; Of Counsel, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garret and Dunner; Education: B.A., Clark University; J.D., New England School of Law.

• Thomas W. Wellington: Appointed to TTAB in 2007; Prior professional experience: served as an Interlocutory Attorney for seven years prior to his appointment as a judge; he worked for five years as a trademark examining attorney and, before that, was in private practice. Mr. Wellington received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and his law degree from The American University Washington College of Law.

• Albert Zervas: Appointed to TTAB in 2005; Prior professional experience: Trademark Examining Attorney; TTAB Interlocutory Attorney; Kaye Scholer, New York; Marks & Murase, Washington, D.C.; Education: B.A. and J.D., University of Virginia.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Website of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
• The TTABlog - Keeping Tabs on the TTAB (Blog by John L. Welch, a Harvard-educated intellectual property attorney and frequent lecturer on TTAB practices and procedures)