There is a rumor that Leo Stoller, in the name of Sentra Industries, has filed upwards to 275 extension requests over the past few months to oppose recently published applications. I’ve seen one such request, and it provides a telephone number to call if you want to send money to XYZ Brand Licensing, where XYZ is part of the published mark. And XYZ doesn’t appear on Stoller/Rentamark’s 20 page list of the trademarks it purportedly owns.
The TTAB charges $300 in filing fees per class per opposition so good luck on those 275 oppositions.
Question for discussion: What to do? One attorney said to me: The TTAB won’t want to intervene because they’re not in a position to decide which if any of the 275 are legit.
I agree that the TTAB may not be in a position to take dispositive action for this reason. However, isn’t it possible that among these 275 are applicants who don’t read the Trademark Blog or TTABlog, and don’t know the background, and may cough up money? Based on what we know of judicial decisions against Stoller in the past, we have a reasonable apprehension regarding these requests for payments.
The Trademark Office is the government agency tasked with the administration of the trademark system, and it may be argued that within its duties is an obligation to protect applicants from this sort of thing.
At a minimum, could the TTAB send an informational bulletin to applicants who have received extension requests from Sentra?
UPDATE: I am told that as of January 10, recent filings have approached 300. Also, some requests have been filed in the names of Central Mfg. Co. or Inc.
Wikipedia entry on Stoller here.