801.02(c) Plaintiff’s Reply Brief
The filing of a reply brief is optional for a party in the position of plaintiff. [ Note 1.]
If a party in the position of plaintiff wishes to file a reply brief, the brief is due not later than 15 days after the due date of the defendant’s main brief. [ Note 2.] However, if the defendant has not filed a main brief, any reply brief filed by the plaintiff may not be considered because there is nothing to which it could reply.
Objections raised for the first time in a reply brief are untimely because they effectively foreclose the adverse party from responding to the objections. [ Note 3.] See TBMP § 707.01.
NOTES:
3. Grote Industries, Inc. v. Truck-Lite Co., LLC, 126 USPQ2d 1197, 1199 (TTAB 2018) (evidentiary objections raised for first time in reply brief are untimely), judgment rev’d and vacated by consent decree, No. 1:18-cv-00599 (W.D.N.Y. June 8, 2022). Cf. Productos Lacteos Tocumbo S.A. de C.V. v. Paleteria La Michoacana Inc., 98 USPQ2d 1921, 1928 (TTAB 2011) (objection not maintained in opening brief but renewed in reply brief is untimely), aff’d, 188 F. Supp. 3d 22 (D.D.C. 2016), aff’d, 743 F. App’x 457, 128 USPQ2d 1172 (D.C. Cir. 2018); Kohler Co. v. Baldwin Hardware Corp., 82 USPQ2d 1100, 1104 (TTAB 2007) (same).