Monday, December 27, 2021, is opening day for the new USPTO ex parte expungement and reexamination procedures. The Director of the USPTO is expected to throw out the ceremonial first brief and holler "play ball!" Meanwhile the Office has issued "Examination Guide 1-21: Expungement and Reexamination Proceedings Under the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020." [pdf here]. The Office has also made available a new TEAS form called "Petition for Expungement or Reexamination."
Establishing a prima facie case of nonuse may be not be easy. Proving a negative never is. Be sure to read the Board's decision in TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. v. Jeffrey E. Martin, 128 USPQ2d 1786 (TTAB 2018) [TTABlogged here], involving an "expedited cancellation" proceeding in which the Petitioner TV Azteca failed to establish a prima facie case of abandonment based on its pleaded claim of nonuse during the three-year period immediately preceding the filing of the petition to cancel.
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Text Copyright John L. Welch 2021.
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