Every U.S. trademark application must be "published for
opposition" after it has cleared examination by the U.S.
Trademark Office. Publication of the trademark application gives
third parties an opportunity to object to the application on
various grounds, including, most commonly, conflict with a senior
trademark. A third party who wants to object to the published
application must file within 30 days of its publication a
"notice of opposition" with the Trademark Trial and
Appeal Board ("TTAB"), which is the administrative body
charged with resolving disputes over the registrability of
trademarks. Governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and
Evidence, with some regulatory modifications, an opposition
proceeding involves various trappings of civil litigation,
including written discovery, depositions, motion practice and a
unique form of "trial" on the merits. The sole issue in
an opposition proceeding is the right to register a trademark.
These administrative
