Navigating Trademark Practice Before the PTO 2009: From Filing Through the TTAB Hearing

Overview

Recently admitted NY attorneys: This program is accredited for transitional CLE credit

Why You Should Attend

A federal trademark or service mark registration can be a very valuable business asset. The Patent and Trademark Office considers applications for registrations. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board hears appeals when the Patent and Trademark Office refuses to register a mark and conducts contested proceedings between parties litigating the right to register a mark. Because these issues are often part of larger disputes regarding the right to use marks in both the conventional marketplace, as well as in e-commerce, a basic understanding of TTAB practice and procedure is an important part of the skills required of intellectual property lawyers in the new economy.

What You Will Learn

• One year later: Impact of new TTAB rules
• Practicalities and costs of trademark enforcement
• PTO and TTAB structure, jurisdiction and powers
• Practical tips for trademark searching, clearance and opinions
• Grounds for refusal of registration
• Importance of product configurations and functionality
• Importance of non-traditional marks
• Acquired distinctiveness issues
• Likelihood of confusion
• Challenges to registrability versus challenges to use
• Strategy for discovery
• Pleadings and related motions
• Nature of a TTAB Trial
• Earn ethics credit - learn about fraud on the PTO

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for attorneys who practice trademark law and who are interested in learning about PTO and TTAB practice.

Special Features

Observe the Live Oral Argument in a pending TTAB case heard by Administrative Trademark Judges.

Live Webcast

Simultaneous live webcast of the New York session is available for individual viewing. Webcast participants will receive streaming audio and/or video of the program, view and print the Course Handbook, and have the ability to submit questions electronically.

For more information click on the Live Webcast link in the Related Items box.

Special Bonus to all Registrants

All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of PLI's comprehensive Course Handbook. This softcover, bound volume was written to augment the program and to stand alone as a permanent reference. PLI's Course Handbooks represent the definitive thinking of the nation's finest legal minds, and are often the standard reference in the field.

Please Note: Webcast attendees will receive a downloadable version of the Handbook one business day prior to the program.

PLI Group Discounts

Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount.  For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.

PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm

Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.

Cancellations

All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.

Schedule

Please plan to arrive with enough time to register before the conference begins. A continental breakfast will be available upon your arrival.

Day One: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00  Introduction

Richard L. Kirkpatrick, Helen Hill Minsker

9:15  Setting the Stage: The Nuts and Bolts of PTO and TTAB Practice

• The U.S. Trademark Registration System
• PTO and TTAB structure, jurisdiction and powers
• PTO/Court interface

Helen Hill Minsker

10:15  Trademark Searching and Clearance

• Reasons to search
• Practical tips for searching, clearance and opinions
• Foreign searching

Richard L. Kirkpatrick

11:15  Break

11:30  Prosecution Part 1: 2 (d) and 2 (e) Refusals and Substantive Issues in Ex Parte Appeals

• Likelihood of confusion
• Genericness/descriptiveness
• Other grounds for refusal of registration

Christopher C. Larkin

12:30  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  Prosecution Part 2: Other Substantive Refusals and Acquired Distinctiveness

• Geographic indicators
• Product configurations
• Non-traditional marks
• Acquired distinctiveness issues

Philip G. Hampton, II

2:45  Costs and Practicalities of Trademark Enforcement

• Corporate counsel perspective
• Outside counsel perspective
• Watch services and investigations
• Strategy and tactics
• C&D letters, TTAB, courts

Susan H. Frohling, William T. Gallagher, Anne Hiaring Hocking

3:45  Break

4:00  Ethical Issues in PTO and TTAB Practice

• Candor with the PTO in ex parte prosecution
• Fraud on the PTO
• Ethical issues in inter partes proceedings

Linda K. McLeod

5:00  Adjourn

Day Two: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

9:00  TTAB Part 1: Pleadings

• Challenges to registrability vs. challenges to use
• Standing
• Grounds for opposition
• The compulsory counterclaim rule

Leslie J. Lott

10:00  TTAB Part 2: Discovery/Motions and Alternative Resolution

• Discovery strategy
• Mandatory disclosures
• Protective orders
• Written discovery
• Depositions
• Motions to compel
• Summary judgment motions
• Other types of TTAB motions
• Settlement strategies

Carla C. Calcagno

11:00  Break

11:15  TTAB Part 3: Trial

• Nature of a TTAB trial
• Techniques of proof
•  Briefs and oral argument

Gary D. Krugman

12:15  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

1:15  One Year Later: Living with the New TTAB Rules

• Impact of new rules on practice/procedure
• Practical tips for handling new procedures
• Pitfalls to avoid 
• Recent decisions interpreting rules

Beth A. Chapman, Administrative Trademark Judge Gerard F. Rogers

2:15  Break

2:30  Setting the Stage for Oral Argument

Richard L. Kirkpatrick, Helen Hill Minsker

2:45  Live Oral Argument in a Contested TTAB Proceeding

Administrative Trademark Judges:

Marc A. Bergsman, John G. Browning, John C. Filosa, Nicole B. Emmons, Gerard F. Rogers, Ellen J. Seeherman

3:45  Q&A with TTAB Judges

Administrative Trademark Judges:

Marc A. Bergsman, Gerard F. Rogers, Ellen J. Seeherman

4:00  Adjourn

Faculty

Co-Chair(s)

Richard L. Kirkpatrick, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Helen Hill Minsker, Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.

Speaker(s)

Marc Bergsman, Administrative Trademark Judge, US Patent & Trademark Office
John G. Browning, Gordon & Rees LLP
Carla C. Calcagno, Holland & Knight LLP
Beth A. Chapman, Oblon, Spivak, Mcclelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C.
John C. Filosa, Baker & McKenzie LLP
Susan H. Frohling, Chief Counsel-Trademarks, Kraft Foods
William T. Gallagher, Professor of Law - Co-Director, IP Law Program, Golden Gate University School of Law
Philip G. Hampton II, Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Anne Hiaring Hocking, Hiaring+Smith, LLP
Gary D. Krugman, Sughrue Mion, PLLC
Christopher C. Larkin, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Leslie J. Lott, Lott & Friedland
Linda K. McLeod, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, & Dunner, LLP
Hon. Gerard F. Rogers, Administrative Trademark Judge, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Hon. Ellen J. Seeherman, Administrative Trademark Judge, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Program Attorney(s)

Tamara C. Kiwi, Program Attorney, Practising Law Institute

CLE Credit

Travel Information

New York City Seminar Location

PLI New York Center, 810 Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street (21st floor), New York, New York 10019. Message Center, program days only: (212) 824-5733.

New York City Hotel Accommodations

The New York Hilton & Towers, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 1-800-HILTONS or, 1-877-NYC-HILT. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate and the Client File # is N495741. Reservations on line at www.hilton.com and enter the same Client File # in the Corporate ID # field to access Practising Law Institute rates.

The Warwick New York Hotel, 65 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 800-223-4099 or, hotel direct 212-247-2700. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate. Reservations on line at www.warwickhotelny.com Click reservations in menu bar on left. Select desired dates. In 'Special Rates' drop down window select Corporate Rate. In 'Rate Code' enter PLIN. Click search and select desired room type and rate plan. Or, you may email reservation requests to: res.ny@warwickhotels.com.