501.02 Filing Stipulations
37 CFR § 2.120(a)(2) [Discovery] … The parties may stipulate to a shortening of the discovery period. The discovery period may be extended upon stipulation of the parties approved by the Board, or upon motion granted by the Board, or by order of the Board... Disclosure deadlines and obligations may be modified upon written stipulation of the parties approved by the Board, or upon motion granted by the Board, or by order of the Board. ..The parties are not required to prepare or transmit to the Board a written report outlining their discovery conference discussions, unless the parties have agreed to alter disclosure or discovery obligations set forth by these rules or applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or unless directed to file such a report by a participating Board Interlocutory Attorney or Administrative Trademark Judge.
37 CFR § 2.120(a)(3) [Discovery] … A party must make its initial disclosures prior to seeking discovery, absent modification of this requirement by a stipulation of the parties approved by the Board, or a motion granted by the Board, or by order of the Board.
37 CFR § 2.121(d) [Assignment of times for taking testimony] When parties stipulate to the rescheduling of a deadline for pretrial disclosures and subsequent testimony periods or to the rescheduling of the closing date for discovery and the rescheduling of deadlines for pretrial disclosures and testimony periods, a stipulation presented in the form used in a trial order, signed by the parties, or a motion in said form signed by one party and including a statement that every other party has agreed thereto, shall be submitted to the Board.
Stipulations which require action or consideration by the Board, such as stipulations to extend a defendant’s time to file an answer to the complaint, stipulations to alter the length of the discovery period or disclosure obligations occurring during the discovery period, stipulations to waive required initial disclosures, stipulations to reschedule pretrial disclosures and subsequent trial dates, stipulations to extend trial dates, stipulations relating to the form of testimony, stipulations to end a proceeding in a specified way, and stipulations to pretrial disposition on the merits or abbreviated trial on the merits by means of Accelerated Case Resolution (ACR), must be filed with the Board. [ Note 1.] Some other types of stipulations, such as stipulations to extend a party’s time for responding to a request for discovery, do not necessarily have to be filed with the Board. However, even in the case of a stipulation that does not have to be filed, the better practice is to reduce the stipulation to writing, in order to avoid any misunderstanding between the parties as to the existence and terms thereof.
NOTES:
1. 37 CFR § 2.120(a)(2); 37 CFR § 2.120(a)(3); 37 CFR § 2.121(d). See, e.g., Chanel Inc. v. Makarczyk, 106 USPQ2d 1774, 1775-76 (TTAB 2013) (approving parties’ stipulation to proceed via ACR).