TTAB in Q3 2026: Contested Filings Rise 3.9% While Defaults End 56% of Oppositions

Quarterly TTAB Report | USPTO TTAB data through September 30, 2026

Executive Summary

• Contested inter-partes filings reached 3,044 in Q3 2026, an increase of 3.9% (+115 proceedings) over the prior quarter's 2,929. Among cases that ended, few were litigated. Of 2,937 oppositions and cancellations terminated during the quarter, 1,636 (55.7%) ended in default judgment because the respondent never answered.
• Oppositions dominate the contested docket. At 2,300 filings, oppositions made up 75.6% of the quarter's contested total, while cancellations slipped to 744.
• The disposition split: 55.7% default, 31.0% settled or withdrawn, 1.7% contested through trial, briefing, or summary judgment, 11.6% other procedural. Only 49 of 2,937 terminated disputes involved an answer plus testimony, briefing, a hearing, or a summary-judgment ruling.
• Cancellations are litigated at more than twice the rate of oppositions. Contested terminations accounted for 3.1% of cancellation terminations (23 of 746) against 1.2% of opposition terminations (26 of 2,191).
• Litigated cases ran long: Mars, Incorporated's opposition against Pags Inc., 91263504, was sustained on September 16, 2026, six years and two months after it was filed in July 2020. The oldest of the quarter's 35 final merits decisions, CC Serve Corporation's opposition against Apex Bank (91254295), was filed in February 2020 and dismissed on July 17, 2026.
• Non-contest activity ran high but belongs in a separate bucket. Extensions of time to oppose totaled 3,460 and ex parte appeals totaled 1,006; neither is a party-versus-party dispute.

1. Filing Volume

Contested filings — the only figure that measures actual party-versus-party litigation — came to 3,044 for Q3 2026, up 3.9% from the prior quarter. That is a modest expansion, and it was driven entirely by the opposition side of the docket. Oppositions added 134 proceedings quarter over quarter while cancellations gave back 19. The divergence matters because the two vehicles behave very differently once instituted, as Section 3 shows.

Extensions of time to oppose came in at 3,460, more than the entire contested docket. An extension is not a dispute. It is a party buying time to review a published application and decide whether to oppose. Many do go on to oppose: of the 2,932 extensions filed in Q1 2026, 1,476 (50.3%) had been followed by an opposition against the same application as of October 4, 2026. Adding the 3,460 extensions to the 3,044 contested filings would more than double the count, and would count many disputes twice.

Ex parte appeals, at 1,006, rose 10.4%, the largest gain among the four high-volume categories (concurrent use doubled, from 4 filings to 8). These are applicants appealing an examining attorney's refusal. No adverse party exists; the opponent is the USPTO itself. Appeals and oppositions measure different things, so this report keeps them separate. Concurrent use (8) and miscellaneous (8) proceedings round out the quarter at negligible volume.

2. Outcomes by Proceeding Type

Moot dismissals (10, 4 and 42) are also counted under Dismissed or Denied, and two partial opposition decisions appear under both Sustained and Dismissed, so a row's categories can add up to more than its entry total. The five oppositions sustained on summary judgment are counted under Other.

Oppositions had the most activity: 2,241 proceedings with at least one decision entry posted during the quarter. Within the 2,267 decision entries logged for oppositions, sustained outcomes numbered 1,503 against 701 dismissals or denials. Most sustained outcomes were defaults: 1,343 of the 1,500 oppositions sustained during the quarter never had an answer filed. Ten dismissals were recorded as moot, and 65 entries fell into the residual category covering procedural rulings and miscellaneous orders.

Cancellations logged decision entries in 817 proceedings. Petitioner-favorable grants numbered 528 among the 827 cancellation decision entries, with 277 dismissals or denials (4 of them as moot), 1 reconsideration, and 21 residual. The grant-to-denial ratio runs slightly narrower than the opposition equivalent.

Ex parte appeals logged decision entries in 908 proceedings, although 534 of those proceedings saw only interim steps during the quarter, such as an examining attorney denying a request for reconsideration. Examiner refusals were affirmed in 95 decision entries and reversed in just 4. Of the 99 entries that squarely addressed the refusal, 96% went the examining attorney's way. Another 231 entries dismissed an appeal, 210 of them because no appeal brief was filed, and 42 dismissed an appeal as moot. In 382 entries an examining attorney denied a request for reconsideration, after which the appeal resumes, and 197 entries were other procedural steps. A single reconsideration entry was logged against an extension of time to oppose.

3. How Disputes End: Defaulted, Settled, or Contested

Here is the number that reframes everything above. Across 2,937 terminated oppositions and cancellations, 1,636 — 55.7% — ended in default judgment. The respondent never filed an answer. No evidence was taken, no briefs were exchanged, and the Board never weighed likelihood of confusion, abandonment, or fraud. Yet a default is tallied as a "sustained" opposition just like a win after trial, which is why decision-entry counts overstate adjudication.

Settlements and withdrawals account for 911 terminations, or 31.0% of the total. That bucket covers consent judgments, withdrawn applications, oppositions and cancellation petitions, surrendered registrations, and cases suspended for settlement talks. Combined with defaults, 86.7% of all terminated inter-partes proceedings closed without the Board reaching a substantive question.

Genuine litigation is rare: 49 proceedings, 1.7% of terminations, had an answer plus testimony, briefing, a hearing, or a summary-judgment ruling. That was 26 of 2,191 terminated oppositions (1.2%) and 23 of 746 terminated cancellations (3.1%). Another 341 terminations fell into other procedural dispositions. Win-rate figures that count defaults as victories are dominated by them: 1,343 of the 1,500 oppositions sustained this quarter (89.5%) never had an answer filed.

4. High-Profile Proceedings

Meta Platforms — 91310797, 91310796, 91310408

Meta Platforms, Inc. was the most active of the 15 major brands this report screens, filing 11 oppositions and 14 extensions of time to oppose in Q3 2026. Its September oppositions include 91310797 against METANEXIS, LLC and 91310796 against OLLAMA INC., both filed September 30, and 91310408 against Daniel Powell, filed September 16. All three were pending as of October 4, 2026. Its September extensions include 99651838, 99818965 and 99746637.

Google — 91310610 and 91310468

Google LLC filed one opposition in Q3 2026, 91310610 against VirtualFrontier Tech Limited on September 23, and six extensions of time to oppose, including 99710319 and 99699265 against other applications. Google was also on the receiving end: on September 17, Autodesk, Inc. opposed a Google application in 91310468. Both oppositions were pending as of October 4, 2026.

Amazon Technologies — 91310532, 91310367, 92092890

Amazon Technologies, Inc. filed five oppositions in Q3 2026, including 91310367 against Hangzhou Qiaoyi Technology Co., Ltd. on September 15 and 91310532 against Chime Financial, Inc. on September 21. Amazon was also a respondent: on September 22, Tailor Technologies Inc. petitioned to cancel Amazon's OMAKASE registration (Reg. No. 3,364,374) in 92092890.

Nike — 91310777 and 91310470

Nike, Inc. filed eight oppositions, two cancellation petitions and six extensions of time to oppose in Q3 2026. Its September filings include oppositions 91310777 against Dark Blue Nyc (September 30) and 91310470 against HarbisonWalker International, Inc. (September 17), plus extension 99823427 (September 29).

PepsiCo — 91310723

PepsiCo, Inc. was a plaintiff in two oppositions in Q3 2026. The September filing, 91310723, was brought on September 28 by Portfolio Concentrate Solutions Unlimited Company and PepsiCo, Inc. against FIZZY BEVERAGE, INC., and was pending as of October 4, 2026.

5. Contested Decisions

The Board issued 35 final merits decisions in oppositions and cancellations during Q3 2026, after trial or on summary judgment. Defaults and settlements are excluded. Oppositions accounted for 29 and cancellations for 6. Of the 29 oppositions, 20 were sustained (5 on summary judgment), 1 was sustained in part, and 8 were dismissed. Of the 6 cancellations, 3 were granted and 3 denied.

Three oppositions filed against Crypto, Inc. on April 10, 2024, by Adblock Inc., Ad-IP GmbH & Co. KG and eyeo GmbH, were each dismissed on September 29, 2026. In cancellation 92085610, the Board granted The Remnant, Inc.'s petition against a registration owned by New Life Worship Center, Inc. on September 28.

Several decided cases had been pending for years. CC Serve Corporation's opposition against Apex Bank was filed in February 2020. Mars, Incorporated's opposition against Pags Inc. was filed July 8, 2020, and New Era Cap Co.'s opposition against Lamar Jackson (91264801) was filed in September 2020.

Key Numbers

1. Defaults dominate how disputes end. Of the oppositions and cancellations terminated in Q3 2026, 55.7% ended in default and 1.7% went through testimony, briefing, a hearing, or summary judgment.

2. Sustained counts are mostly defaults. Of the 1,500 oppositions sustained during the quarter, 1,343 (89.5%) never had an answer filed.

3. Cancellations were litigated more often than oppositions. 3.1% of terminated cancellations were contested through trial, briefing, or summary judgment, against 1.2% of terminated oppositions.

4. The Board rarely reversed a refusal. Of the 99 ex parte appeal decisions that ruled on the refusal itself, 95 affirmed it and 4 reversed it.

5. Extensions often lead to oppositions. About half of the extensions of time to oppose filed in Q1 2026 (1,476 of 2,932) had been followed by an opposition against the same application as of October 4, 2026.

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Data sourced from USPTO TTAB records and public filings. Figures reflect proceedings as recorded through the report date and will change as cases progress. This report is informational and does not constitute legal advice.