Review of the 2006 Trademark Decisions of the Federal Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit delivered only seven precedential trademark opinions in 2006. The Court addressed a range of substantive issues including trade dress configuration, reverse passing off, and genericism. Notably, two of the seven precedential decisions involved plant names protected by the Plant Variety Protection Act. The Court decided only one case in 2006 where the primary issue was procedural, rather than substantive. In that case, the Court sided with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and affirmed its decision on the applicability of the res judicata doctrine. In 2006, as in previous years, appellants faced a difficult challenge in convincing the Federal Circuit to overturn the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's findings and determinations. Only one of the eight Board decisions appealed to the Federal Circuit was overturned. The Federal Circuit also affirmed rulings by a federal district court and the International Trade Commission. The Court affirmed in every trademark decision it published, and designated four out of the total eleven of its trademark decisions as not citable precedent. All four non-precedential decisions dealt with the application of the In re E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. factors for likelihood of confusion.