TTAB Announces Policy on Non-Precedential Opinions

On January 23, 2007 the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board announce that it is changing its policy with respect to the citation of opinions not designated as precedential as folows:

• The TTAB will continue its current practice of designating all final decisions as either precedential or not precedential. Unless specifically designated as precedential, an order on a motion should be considered not precedential.
• The TTAB will continue its practice of considering precedential decisions as binding upon the TTAB. A decision designated as not precedential is not binding upon the TTAB butmay be cited for whatever persuasive value it might have.
• Citation to all TTAB decisions should be to the United States Patent Quarterly, if the decision appears therein; otherwise, to a USPTO public electronic database. If a non-precedential decision does not appear in theUnited States Patent Quarterly or the USPTO's public electronic databases,the citing party should append a copy of the decision to the motion orbrief in which the decision is cited.
• Decisions of other tribunals may be cited to the extent allowed and forthe purposes permitted by the tribunal that issued the decision.