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Abolishing The Missing-Claim Rule For Judicial Cancellations, Ryan G. Vacca
Abolishing The Missing-Claim Rule For Judicial Cancellations, Ryan G. Vacca
Ryan G. Vacca
This article questions why some courts that have already found a federally registered trademark invalid refuse to cancel the registration despite having the authority to do so under § 37 of the Lanham Act. Examination of cases involving judicial cancellations reveals that a failure to assert cancellation as a claim, as opposed to a variety of other methods of requesting cancellation, is the reason courts refuse to exercise their power under § 37 - referred to as the missing-claim rule. This article criticizes the missing-claim rule as illogical and frustrating trademark law's purpose and proposes the missing-claim rule be abolished, …