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SSJR Successfully Opposes Motion to Dismiss at the TTAB

December 1, 2014 by in General


SSJR attorneys successfully defended a Motion to Dismiss filed with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”), maintaining our client’s claim of prior use of the trademark JW. SSJR’s client Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (“Watch Tower”), which has been using its JW mark since as early as 1931, filed a Petition to Cancel the trademark JW PLAYER, owned by LongTail Ad Solutions, Inc (“LongTail”). In response, LongTail filed a Motion to Dismiss challenging the legal sufficiency of Watch Tower’s Petition. The TTAB rejected LongTail’s Motion, agreeing with SSJR’s argument that the Petition properly pleaded the elements necessary to show prior use of a confusingly similar mark. With Watch Tower’s claim safely beyond the pleading stage, the TTAB went on to set the trial schedule for the Opposition proceedings.