On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision in Great Concepts, LLC v. Chutter, Inc., in which the Board canceled Great Concepts’ trademark registration based on a fraudulent Section 15 declaration of incontestability. In doing so, the Federal Circuit held that the TTAB lacks authority to cancel a registration based on a fraudulent incontestability declaration, closing the door to cancellation claims premised on fraudulent statements on which the USPTO did not rely either to issue or maintain a registration.
