702.03 Manner of Trial
Because the Board is an administrative tribunal, its rules and procedures differ in some respects from those prevailing in the federal district courts. [ Note 1.] See TBMP § 102.03 regarding Board proceedings in general and TBMP § 502.01 regarding motions that may be filed at the Board. For example, proceedings before the Board are conducted in writing, and the Board's actions in a particular case are based on the written record therein. [ Note 2.] The Board does not preside at the taking of testimony. Rather, all testimony is taken out of the presence of the Board, and the written transcripts thereof, together with any exhibits thereto, are then submitted to the Board. [ Note 3.]
Depositions may be noticed for any reasonable place in the United States. [ Note 4.] As a result, parties do not have to travel to the offices of the Board, or to the geographic area surrounding the Board's offices, to take their testimony. A party to a proceeding before the Board need never come to the offices of the Board at all, unless the party wishes to argue its case at oral hearing at the offices of the Board. An oral hearing is held only if requested by a party to the proceeding. [ Note 5.]
Because the vast majority of filings are now made via ESTTA (Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals), the Board’s electronic filing system, most submissions made during the course of an inter partes proceeding are stored in electronic form and are available for viewing on the Board home page of the USPTO web site via TTABVUE (http://ttabvue.uspto.gov ). Paper submissions are scanned into the electronic record, and the electronic record constitutes the official record of the proceeding. See TBMP § 120. No document, exhibit, etc., whether submitted electronically or as paper, will be considered as evidence in the case unless it has been introduced in evidence in accordance with the applicable rules, see TBMP § 706, [ Note 6.], or the parties stipulate or otherwise treat the evidence as being of record, see TBMP § 702.02.
For a further discussion regarding viewing and obtaining Board records, see TBMP § 121.
If the parties to a proceeding desire to obtain a final resolution of a proceeding prior to the scheduled trial period, they may consider Accelerated Case Resolution ("ACR"). For information on ACR, see TBMP § 528.05(a)(2), TBMP § 702.04 and TBMP § 705.
NOTES:
1. See Yamaha International Corp. v. Hoshino Gakki Co., 840 F.2d 1572, 6 USPQ2d 1001, 1004 (Fed. Cir. 1988); La Maur, Inc. v. Bagwells Enterprises, Inc., 193 USPQ 234, 235 (Comm'r 1976). For a discussion concerning the general nature of trials in proceedings before the Board, see Fischer Gesellschaft m.b.H. v. Molnar & Co., 203 USPQ 861, 867 (TTAB 1979); Litton Business Systems, Inc. v. J. G. Furniture Co., 190 USPQ 428, recon. denied, 190 USPQ 431 (TTAB 1976).
2. See 37 CFR § 2.191.
3. See Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Healthcare Personnel Inc., 21 USPQ2d 1552, 1553 (TTAB 1991); La Maur, Inc. v. Bagwells Enterprises, Inc., 193 USPQ 234, 235 (Comm'r 1976).
4. See 37 CFR § 2.123(c).
5. See 37 CFR § 2.129(a).
6. See 37 CFR § 2.123(l).