407.02    Scope and Nature of Requests for Admission

Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a) Requests for Admission.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a)(1) Scope. A party may serve on any other party a written request to admit, for purposes of the pending action only, of the truth of any matters within the scope of Rule 26(b)(1) relating to:

  • (A) facts, the application of law to fact, or opinions about either; and
  • (B) the genuineness of any described documents.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a)(2) Form; Copy of a Document. Each matter must be separately stated. A request to admit the genuineness of a document must be accompanied by a copy of the document unless it is, or has been, or otherwise furnished or made available for inspection and copying.

The scope and nature of requests for admission, in inter partes proceedings before the Board, are governed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a), which in turn refers to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1).

For a discussion of the scope of discovery permitted under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) and electronically stored information, see TBMP § 402.01 and TBMP § 402.02.

Requests for admission are particularly useful for determining, prior to trial, which facts are not in dispute, thereby narrowing the matters that must be tried. These requests are also useful as a means of facilitating the introduction into evidence of documents produced by an adversary in response to a request for production of documents. [ Note 1.] TBMP § 403.05(b).

NOTES:

 1.   See, e.g., ProQuest Information and Learning Co. v. Island, 83 USPQ2d 1351, 1353 n.6 (TTAB 2007) (opposer filed notice of reliance on applicant’s response to request for admission and exhibits thereto that all documents it produced in response to opposer’s discovery requests were authentic for purposes of admission into evidence during the testimony period in the opposition proceeding); Kohler Co. v. Baldwin Hardware Corp., 82 USPQ2d 1100, 1103 (TTAB 2007) (documents produced in response to petitioner’s interrogatories under Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(d) for which respondent admitted via a request for admission were true and correct copies of authentic documents could be introduced by way of notice of reliance).