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U.S. Trademark Fraud Cured Post-Registration

By William F. Heinze

Thanks to the TTABlog for pointing out a non-precedential decision of the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board from October 2008 ruling that correction of a false statement regarding use, if made before a registration has been challenged, creates "a rebuttable presumption that [registrant] did not intend to commit fraud." Zanella Ltd. v. Nordstrom, Inc., Opposition No. 91177858 (October 23, 2008) [not precedential]. According to John Welch,

It appears from this decision that fraud may be curable even after registration, as long as the false statement regarding use is corrected before the
registration is challenged. Note well that this is a non-precedential decision
by one panel of the TTAB, so it is not etched in stone. But it is certainly a
promising approach to the fraud problem. . . .

Let the post-registration fraudits begin!! [Maybe we should call them "f®audits"?]

Full post as published by I/P Updates on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).