The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office faces a lawsuit alleging it unfairly favors its own employees against non-employees who claim the employees are violating agency rules.
LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC, a trademark filing law firm, is seeking agency records that it says would help determine why the PTO gave a former employee allegedly special treatment in an investigation into potential signature rule violations.
The PTO has failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for the records, LegalForce alleged in a complaint filed Sept. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The firm is ...
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