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 oppositions 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 ex parte appeals from refusals to register and inter partes proceedings in the form of opposition and cancellation proceedings.

External links

• Website of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
• The TTABlog - Keeping Tabs on the TTAB

Intellectual property