92077633•Zuffa, LLC v. Byron Belin
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THIS OPINION IS NOT A PRECEDENT OF THE TTAB Mailed: July 15, 2026 UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE _____ Trademark Trial and Appeal Board _____ Zuffa, LLC v. Byron Belin _____ Cancellation No. 92077633 _____ On Respondent’s Request for Reconsideration of Board’s Final Decision _____ John L. Krieger and Cindy Villanueva of Dickinson Wright PLLC for: Zuffa, LLC Jeremy T. Katz and Eric V. Anderson of Hall Griffin LLP for: Byron Belin _____ Before Wellington, Allard, and Casagrande, Administrative Trademark Judges. Wellington, Administrative Trademark Judge: Respondent, Byron Belin, requested reconsideration of the Board’s March 10, 2026, final decision granting Petitioner, Zuffa, LLC, the cancellation of Respondent’s
Cancellation No. 92077633 - 2 - Reg. No. 6002970 based on nonuse of the mark in commerce.1 Petitioner filed its opposition to Respondent’s Request for Reconsideration.2 I. Argument In the Request for Reconsideration, Respondent contends that the Board erred because the final decision “was based on the Board’s factual conclusion that there is no evidence of use prior to the January 2020 Statement of Use deadline.”3 Specifically, Respondent contends that the Board erred by not considering Respondent’s submission of evidence regarding purported YouTube promotional videos. Respondent acknowledges that it did not introduce actual copies of the videos and thus the actual content was not placed in the record, but argues that “as a factual matter,” Petitioner’s trial brief “conceded that Belin had posted the two ‘BMF’ videos to Youtube, which means that the existence of those BMF videos prior to the Statement of Use deadline is an undisputed fact.”4 Respondent also argues that, “as a legal matter, the code of federal regulations allows internet materials to be submitted into evidence ‘so long as the date the internet materials were access (sic) and their source (e.g., URL) are provided,’” citing 37 C.F.R. § 2.122(e)(2).5 Respondent argues that because he provided this 1 73 TTABVUE; see also 72 TTABVUE (Board Final Decision). 2 74 TTABVUE. 3 73 TTABVUE 3. Emphasis in italics on the word “no” from Respondent. 4 73 TTABVUE 3, reference Petitioner’s brief at 53 TTAVUE 26. 5 73 TTABVUE 3.
Cancellation No. 92077633 - 3 - information, the video content that can be ascertained at that website address should be considered. Petitioner, in response, asserts that Respondent “ignores the difference between acknowledging the existence of the videos and having the content of the videos in evidence.”6 (emphasis in original). Petitioner also disagrees with Respondent’s claim that it was “legal error” for the Board not to have considered the content of the YouTube videos, asserting that Respondent “provides no legal support for the assertion” and that merely supplying the URL (website address) for the videos is not sufficient for placing the content of the videos in the record.7 II. Applicable Law and Analysis Reconsideration is a procedural tool with a narrow purpose. A party may request reconsideration when it believes that “based on the evidence of record and the prevailing authorities, the Board erred in reaching the decision it issued.” In re Berkeley Lights, Inc., No. 88895703, 2022 TTAB LEXIS 382, at *2 (citation omitted). It thus “should be limited to a demonstration that based on the evidence properly of record and the applicable law, the Board’s ruling is in error and requires appropriate change.” Nkanginieme v. Appleton, No. 91256464, 2023 TTAB LEXIS 64, at *3-4 (citation omitted). It may not “be devoted simply to a reargument of the points presented in the requesting party’s brief on the case.” Id.; see also TRADEMARK TRIAL 6 74 TTABVUE 3. 7 74 TTABVUE 4.
Cancellation No. 92077633 - 4 - AND APPEAL BOARD MANUAL OF PROCEDURE (TBMP) §§ 543 and 1219.01 (2026) and cases cited therein. At the threshold, we note that Respondent incorrectly asserts that the Board found “there is no evidence of use prior to the January 2020 Statement of Use deadline.”8 The Board actually determined in the final decision that there was “no credible evidence in the record that Respondent, prior to January 30, 2020, used BMF as a mark in connection with the services listed in his registration.”9 Respondent has not shown this to have been error. In terms of the Board’s refusal to consider the content of the YouTube videos even though Petitioner acknowledged their existence, we are not persuaded by Respondent’s arguments that the Board was in error, either in fact or in law. As the Board clearly pointed out in the final decision, Petitioner acknowledged only that Respondent’s “activities” included a short film video and “a 44 second promotional video for the short film.” Actual copies of the videos were not introduced. As Petitioner correctly points out, there is substantial difference between conceding the existence of these videos and admitting the content or any import of the content. Indeed, and to put a fine point on it, Petitioner did not admit or acknowledge any substance or content of the YouTube videos that would support Respondent’s assertion of use of his mark in commerce in connection with any of the services identified in his registration. 8 73 TTABVUE 3 (emphasis in original). 9 72 TTABVUE 23 (emphasis added).
Cancellation No. 92077633 - 5 - Respondent also misconstrues the legal authority regarding the Board’s acceptance of Internet materials into evidence based on a party merely providing the URL Internet address. That is, the rule to which Respondent relies upon, Trademark Rule 2.122(e)(2), 37 C.F.R. § 2.122(e)(2), involves submitting copies of Internet materials under a notice of reliance. This rule, as explained in TBMP § 704.08(b) (“Internet Materials”) clarifies that “[p]roviding only a web address or a hyperlink without the material attached is not sufficient to introduce it into the record,” citing, inter alia, Chutter, Inc. v. Great Mgmt. Grp., LLC, No. 91223018, 2021 TTAB LEXIS 365, at *41 n.67 (video referenced by hyperlink inadmissible), rev’d on other grounds sub nom. Great Concepts, LLC v. Chutter, Inc., 84 F.4th 1014 (Fed. Cir. 2021); see also In re Powermat Inc., No. 77715011, 2013 TTAB LEXIS 5, at *5-6 (links to YouTube videos insufficient to make the content of the videos of record). Respondent also takes issue with the Board’s rationale for not considering the content of the video evidence and that “in this context, the exclusionary rule’s very purpose is nonsensical.”10 Respondent asserts that it is irrelevant in this case that the content of the material to which the link pertains may be altered on the website and the “factual question at issue is not the content as it appears on the date accessed, but the content available on the publication date.”11 Even if we are to give credence to this argument, and we do not, it misses the point entirely in that Respondent did not provide the content, namely, copies of the videos, leaving us with no means of 10 73 TTABVUE 4. 11 73 TTABVUE 4.
Cancellation No. 92077633 - 6 - determining the probative value of the content of the videos in connection with our determination as to use of Respondent’s mark in connection with any of the services listed in the registration. Finally, we note that in admitting that he did not place the videos in question in the record, Respondent states “it is true that Respondent did not clutter the record with video files, which could just as easily be accessed by following the link provided.”12 We would be remiss if we did not point out that Respondent twice submitted over 400 pages of exhibits with his testimonial declaration.13 In other words, given the number and amount of exhibit materials already submitted, the submission of a couple of videos would not have increased the size of the record appreciably.14 In sum, we have carefully considered Respondent’s arguments in the Request for Reconsideration and are not persuaded there was error in reaching the final decision. Accordingly, Respondent’s Request for Reconsideration is denied. 12 73 TTABVUE 5. 13 48 TTABVUE 12-430 and 50 TTABVUE (second copy submitted). 14 TBMP § 703.01(i) explains the proper procedure for introducing such material (“Exhibits consisting of video or audio recordings of commercials, demonstrations, etc., may be transferred to an appropriate electronic format such as a DVD or CD for submission to the Board.”).
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