Tuesday, August 26, 2008

#27 - Why We Haven't Responded

Good Morning!

It has been commented on that the Ranch has not responded to Jill Koehler's petition for cancellations before the Trademark Trial Board.

The answer to that is simple - we haven't been served. No service, no response. I found out about the proceeding when I got the standard scheduling order in the mail about two weeks after she filed the petitions.

Despite Jill signing her name to the following statement:

“The undersigned hereby certifies that a copy of this paper has been served upon all parties, at their address record by USPS Express Mail Post Office to Addressee on this date.”

She evidently forgot the most important part, putting the 'this paper' in the mail with my address on it. So, even if I hadn't gotten notice via the back door, I wasn't required to file a response. Any default judgment wouldn't have stood. No service. No lawsuit. It's that easy.

Jill should know that. She was served with a lawsuit on August 4, 2008.

I called her on it and she claims that she misunderstood and thought that the Trademark Board would be mailing it to me. Instead of conferring with me as she is required to do by law and practice rules, she went straight to filing a response to a sanctions motion that hasn't even been filed yet.

So, I filed the motion. That same link that Rhonda is passing around will take you to all of the new documents. For anyone not on their mailing list, you can find it all here.

What part of that statement about service she signed was so difficult to understand?

In the response she filed on 08/25/08 with the TTAB, Jill neglected to attach a certificate of service and I can only assume that she will fail to serve this document on me as well.

So as a public service, I am making the following statement:

::cue the public service announcement warning tone::

----------------------------------------------------------------

JILL - EVERY DOCUMENT YOU FILE VIA THE TTAB SYSTEM MUST CONTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AND MUST BE SERVED ON THE RESPONDENT. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.

----------------------------------------------------------------

End public service announcement.

She also neglected to follow TTAB rules by not reporting that the trademarks are the subject of a federal lawsuit. Jill claims that she doesn't think the two proceedings are related. She doesn't get to decide what does and doesn't get reported. It all gets reported - that's very clear in the TTAB rules.

This is going to be a long ole hard slog. I anticipate it taking at least a year just to get the pleadings in order. When you file a lawsuit in any court, especially a federal court, you are bound by the same rules and standards as every other practitioner.

Gotta get to work now. Terri

Sunday, August 24, 2008

#25 - Mosquitoes Buzzing Around My Ears

Good Evening Everyone! The blog has been quiet for quite some time, but that doesn't mean that things have been quiet. I will be posting regularly over the next few days, but for the moment, I'll give a quick recap of recent events.

1. Between August 4 - 8, 2008 Jill Koehler, Robin Bone and Michael Kosowski were all served summons in the next phase of the lawsuit. We are suing them for trademark infringement, cybersquatting and unfair competition. We had to do this because even though the federal court has ruled in our favor on all trademark related counts, these three licensees refused to face reality. Even though I gave them an extra 30 days as a courtesy, the first thing all three of them did was file for a continuance instead of filing their answer to the lawsuit. Basically, what American Plastic did in the early days of the first lawsuit, his privies are doing in the second phase of the lawsuit - delay, delay, delay . . .

2. On August 8, 2008, Jill Koehler spent $900 in filing fees to file three half-baked and incredibly lame petitions to cancel our federally registered trademarks. I've heard that the Corral is all abuzz as Jill holds forth in her little closed and captive audience about how she has 'got us against the wall.' Whatever . . .

Those were the poorest excuse for legal documents I've ever seen. I printed them out and handed them out to all of my legal friends as the biggest joke we've seen in a while. They were the hit of our last local Bar meeting. On Monday, Jill will receive my first request for sanctions. She has 21 days to respond to my contentions or I will file the motion with the administrative court. Her response is due on September 15, 2008.

Jill also says that I have defaulted on her petitions. I received the scheduling order in the mail last week and the response date is September 20, 2008. I know I've been busy lately, but the last time I checked, it was still August. So, all you folks will just have to settle in and get comfortable, for the next three years, at least. The USPTO moves at its own pace and always gives way to the courts. Our lawsuit was filed before the cancellation, it will take precedence. So all the folks hanging around, hoping for our demise, you are sadly premature. Jill Koehler is not going to cancel our registrations. Especially not with what she filed with the USPTO. Jill, despite playing one on the internet, is not a lawyer.

I'll write more in the next couple of days with links to various documents and petitions so you can read it all and decide for yourselves. This is a public posting in a public forum for anyone to read. It's not locked up behind a wall of password protected paranoia. Feel free to comment. Feel free to email me. Feel free to ask anything you desire.

Terri