A Piece of Federal Circuit History: Women’s History Month at the Federal Circuit: The First Woman-Authored Opinion

On October 29, 1982, former Judge Helen W. Nies wrote the opinion for Sanyo Watch Co., Inc. v. Sanyo Elec. Co., Ltd. 691 F.2d 1019 (Fed. Cir. 1982). Not only was Sanyo one of the first cases decided by the newly-created Federal Circuit, it was also the first Federal Circuit opinion authored by a woman. Judge Nies was the first woman to sit on the Federal Circuit after being reassigned from the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in October 1982. In Sanyo, the court affirmed a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) which dismissed Sanyo Watch Co.’s opposition because it failed to offer sufficient evidence to support its allegations of prior use and likelihood of confusion. Judge Nies explained that an opposer wishing to establish prior use should introduce its own trademark application into evidence; however, an application file, unlike a registration, does not establish prima facie rights to the opposed mark. An opposer possesses the burden of proof to advance the material allegations of the opposition, as well as the ultimate burden of persuasion.