Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Mujahid Ahmad
By Sarah Bro
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) sustained an opposition on the basis of fraud, finding that Ahmad's assertions to the USPTO regarding his use of the trademark NATIONSTAR in interstate commerce were false and knowingly made with the requisite intent to deceive the USPTO. Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Mujahid Ahmad, Opposition No. 91177036 (TTAB, Sept. 30, 2014) (precedential) (Bergsman, ATJ).
In the opposition proceeding, the registrant, Ahmad, testified that he had considered using the trademark NATIONSTAR in connection with his real estate services in 2004 or 2005, and, in April 2005, Ahmad registered several domain names containing the text "nationstar." Because Ahmad was not using the domain names in 2006, Nationstar Mortgage contacted Ahmad, offering to purchase two of the domain names from him. Ahmad denied Nationstar Mortgage's offer, and days later proceeded to file his own trademark application for NATIONSTAR. The application included a declaration under penalty of perjury signed by Ahmad claiming that he had used the trademark in commerce in connection with all of the real estate and mortgage brokerage services listed in the application since at least as early as April 4, 2005. In order to demonstrate the requisite proof of use of the trademark in commerce, Ahmad later filed with ...
