A party that appeals a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision to the Federal Circuit does not waive the right to challenge a subsequent TTAB decision in district court.

A North Carolina district court erred in finding that it lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a TTAB decision issued after remand from the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, has held. Even though a party to an opposition proceeding had chosen to take its initial appeal to the Federal Circuit, it did not waive its right to challenge a subsequent TTAB decision in the case in federal district court. The text of Section 21 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1071, while ambiguous, favored the interpretation that a party dissatisfied with an initial TTAB decision, or any subsequent TTAB decision, retains the right to choose whether to appeal the decision to the Federal Circuit or to a district court (Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. v. Frito-Lay North America, Inc, March 17, 2021, Wynn, J.).

Case date: 17 March 2021
Case number: No. 19-2316
Court: United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.


_____________________________

To make sure you do not miss out on regular updates from the Kluwer Trademark Blog, please subscribe here.


Kluwer IP Law

The 2022 Future Ready Lawyer survey showed that 79% of lawyers think that the importance of legal technology will increase for next year. With Kluwer IP Law you can navigate the increasingly global practice of IP law with specialized, local and cross-border information and tools from every preferred location. Are you, as an IP professional, ready for the future?

Learn how Kluwer IP Law can support you.

Kluwer IP Law
This page as PDF

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *