USPTO Can Recoup Fees in Trademark Appeal Board Review by District Court No Matter If Plaintiff “Wins, Loses or Draws.”
In Shammas v. Focarino, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III (E.D. Va.)—on first impression issue—held that an “odd” federal statute required plaintiff to pay all of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s expenses, including attorney’s fees, when requesting district court review of a Trademark Appeal Board ruling, regardless of whether plaintiff wins, loses, or draws. Plaintiff in the particular case was ordered to pay nearly $33,000 in USPTO’s fees (salaries of agency attorneys) as well as paralegal fees.
U.S. District Judge Fixes Fees to Class Counsel in ERISA Case By Looking At Prior Comparable Awards.
In awarding $1 million in fees to class counsel, U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow (D. Md.) in Boyd v. Coventry Health Care, Inc. looked to similar fee awards in comparable Fourth Circuit ERISA cases, reducing requested fees of $1.2 million (33% of the settlement recovery) to the actual $1 million award (28% of the recovery, which District Judge Chasanow found to be within the proper range of prior ERISA fee awards).