Undeterred by his failure to convince the TTAB and the Federal Circuit that Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant and Butik's federal trade dress registration for "goats on a roof of grass" should be cancelled, lawyer and pro se petitioner Todd C. Bank asked the Supreme Court to review that decision. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Supreme Court declined.
This marks the end to Mr. Bank's third attempt to cancel the registration. This time, Mr. Bank, who believes the registration is demeaning to goats, alleged only that he was offended by the registration and concerned for the goats. The TTAB dismissed the petition because Mr. Bank lacked standing to cancel the registration, and the Federal Circuit agreed. In his petition for writ of certiorari, Mr. Bank argued that the Federal Circuit conflated his standing with the merits of the dispute.
For Mr. Bank, who describes himself as the annoyance lawyer, the hits have just kept coming. In December, the Second Circuit ordered him out of the courtroom in the midst of his oral argument for acting disrespectful and discourteous.
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