407.01 When Permitted and By Whom
During the discovery period in an inter partes proceeding before the Board, any party may serve written requests for admissions on any other party. [ Note 1.] Like interrogatories and requests for production of documents, requests for admission may be served on an adversary after service of or contemporaneously with initial disclosures, absent a stipulation or granted motion or order of the Board to the contrary. [ Note 2.] TBMP § 403.01 and TBMP § 403.02. Requests for admissions, like interrogatories and requests for production of documents, must be served early enough in the discovery period, as originally set or as may have been reset by the Board, so that responses will be due no later than the close of discovery. [ Note 3.] TBMP § 403.02
NOTES:
1. Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a); 37 C.F.R. § 2.120(i).
3. 37 C.F.R. § 2.120(a)(3). See also Estudi Moline Dissey, S.L. v. BioUrn Inc., 123 USPQ2d 1268, 1270 (TTAB 2017) (discovery must be served "early enough … so that responses will be due no later than the close of discovery"); MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES TO TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD RULES OF PRACTICE, 81 Fed. Reg. 69950, 69951 (October 7, 2016).