TTAB Research (/ttab/research) is a workbench for searching TTAB proceedings and the Board’s source language on the same screen. Enter a legal question, quoted language, party name, mark, proceeding number, serial number, or registration number. The workbench returns matching cases and, when source passage research is enabled for your account, the specific passages in Board decisions, pleadings, answers, and briefs that match your query.
Availability
TTAB Research may not be enabled for every account. If the feature is not enabled, the page displays a message stating that TTAB Research is not enabled for the account, with a button to return to the TTAB monitoring workspace.
When source passage research is connected, a “Verified source chain” indicator appears next to the search bar. When passage research is not connected, the workbench searches case records only and evidence-specific filters and views are not available.
The search bar
The search bar is a multi-line text field with the label What are you researching? and the helper text “Enter a legal question, quoted language, party, mark, proceeding, serial, or registration number.” A badge above the field reads “Cases + source evidence.”
The placeholder text is: Example: What has the Board said about whether a false specimen is material to fraud?
Press Enter to run the search.
Press Shift+Enter to add a line break for longer questions.
The submit button reads Search TTAB when text is entered, Browse proceedings when the field is empty, or Searching TTAB… while a search is running.
When passage research is enabled, active evidence source filters appear as removable tags under the search bar, along with a badge showing the current proceeding lane (“Oppositions & cancellations” or “Ex parte appeals”).
How queries are routed
The workbench classifies each submitted query and routes it accordingly:
Evidence questions — when source passage research is enabled, questions about what the Board wrote trigger a passage search over a reviewed corpus. Results are individual source passages grouped by proceeding.
Case lookups — party names, marks, proceeding numbers, serial numbers, and registration numbers search live TTAB proceeding records.
Scope refusals — questions outside the TTAB’s registration role display an alert titled “Outside the TTAB’s registration role” and return no results.
Evidence sources
When passage research is enabled, the following source types are available in the filter panel under the heading Evidence sources:
Filter label | Tag label (under search bar) | Corpus size |
Board decisions and orders | Board sources | 8,800 Board-source documents |
Complaints and petitions | Pleadings | 1,900 reviewed passages |
Answers and counterclaims | Answers & counterclaims | 205 reviewed passages |
Arguments in briefs | Briefs | 70 reviewed passages |
In evidence mode, the workbench displays this notice below the results heading:
Searched: the reviewed corpus v0.2 for the selected sources — Board decisions & orders (8,800 documents) · pleadings (1,900 reviewed passages) · answers & counterclaims (205) · briefs (70). A miss here is a statement about this reviewed subset, not about the Board’s full record. Results do not establish exhaustive recall, precedential status, or later history.
The specific source types available may depend on your account’s access level. Some accounts have passage research enabled for Board sources only.
Filters
The filter panel is titled “Narrow the research” and includes a Clear all button. On smaller screens, filters are accessible via a Filters ({count}) button that opens a side panel titled “Narrow TTAB research.”
Evidence filters
Shown when passage research is enabled:
Evidence sources — checkboxes for the four source types listed above.
Proceeding lane — a select with two options: “Oppositions and cancellations” and “Ex parte appeals.” Switching to ex parte appeals restricts available sources to Board decisions and orders and Arguments in briefs, and resets speaker/side selections.
Speaker or side — checkboxes, shown when Briefs or Answers & counterclaims sources are selected. For oppositions and cancellations: “Plaintiff / opposer or petitioner” and “Defendant / applicant or respondent.” For ex parte appeals: “Applicant” and “Examining attorney.” No selection searches every compatible side.
Board action — a select, shown when Board sources are selected. Options: Any Board treatment, Affirmed, Reversed, Granted, Denied, Dismissed, Sustained.
Source quality — checkboxes under the heading Source quality: “Full document text” and “Verified page range.” No selection includes every verified coverage type.
Case filters
Status — checkboxes populated from the result set.
Proceeding type — checkboxes populated from the result set.
Matched party role — checkboxes populated from the result set.
Parties and owners — checkboxes populated from the result set (up to 10 shown).
Refine within results
A text input above the results lets you search within the loaded set. Its placeholder shows the current count: “Search within {N} cases and {M} passages.”
Clearing filters
The filter panel’s Clear all button and a Clear refinements button in the results toolbar both reset all filters and the refine text to their defaults.
Result views
Toggle between two views using the Cases and Passages buttons in the results toolbar.
Cases view
Each result is a card showing:
Proceeding type, status, and proceeding number (with a # prefix)
Filing date and last status update date
Plaintiff and defendant panels with mark image tiles (when available), owner names, and mark names (with “+{N} more” when multiple marks exist)
A “Matched {plaintiff/defendant}” badge when the query matched a specific party role
A “{N} matching {source/sources}” badge when evidence passages are attached
A Why this case matched section listing up to three matching source passages, each with its source role, speaker, side, entry number, page range, rank, matched terms, and a Preview in context button. The section header reads “Exact source language, with speaker and docket location preserved.”
Analyze button — links to
/analysis?tab=ttab&proceeding={number}View case button — opens the proceeding detail page in a new tab
A checkbox to select the proceeding for bulk actions
When a proceeding matched the source search but lacks party metadata, a note reads: “This proceeding matched the source search. Open the case for its complete parties, marks, and docket.”
Sort options in Cases view (via the sort select):
Best match
Recently updated
Recently filed
Party name
Results paginate at 20 proceedings per page. The pagination bar shows “Showing {start}–{end} of {total} cases” with Previous and Next buttons and “Page {N} of {M}” text.
Passages view
The Passages view is disabled when no passages are loaded. Each passage card shows:
Source role, speaker, and side badges
“Proceeding {number} · entry {entryNumber}”
Page range: “Page {start}” or “Pages {start}–{end}”
Rank: “#{rank}”
The passage text in a blockquote
“Matched:” terms (up to 10 shown)
Preview in context button
Official source button — links to the source document
Empty states
When no results are found:
In Cases view (non-evidence mode): “No cases match this research” with the suggestion “Broaden the source or case filters and try again.”
In Cases view (evidence mode) and Passages view: “No passages in the reviewed corpus match” with the note “That is a statement about the reviewed source sets in the panel — not about the Board’s full record. Widen the evidence sources, or rephrase with the language a filing would use.”
Selecting proceedings and bulk actions
Select individual proceedings using the checkbox on each case card. Use the Select visible / Deselect visible toggle to select or deselect all proceedings on the current page.
When one or more proceedings are selected, a bulk action bar appears showing “{N} selected” and “{M} currently visible” with the following actions:
Ask Markus — hands off the current research query and selected proceeding numbers to the Markus AI workspace.
Open cases — opens up to 5 selected proceeding detail pages in new tabs. The button is disabled when more than 5 are selected, and shows “(max 5)”.
Analyze selected — opens the batch analysis dialog. The button is disabled when more than 10 are selected, and shows “(max 10)”.
Clear — deselects all proceedings.
Batch analysis
The batch analysis dialog, titled “Analyze selected TTAB cases,” queues a full document analysis for each selected proceeding. It supports up to 10 proceedings at a time.
The dialog description reads: “Queue a full document analysis for each selected proceeding. Analyses run in the background and usually finish in 1–2 minutes.”
Each proceeding in the queue displays one of these statuses: ready, queuing, queued, error. Proceedings with an error status show the error message.
The primary button reads “Queue {N} {analysis/analyses}” before queuing and “View TTAB analyses” after at least one proceeding is queued. The secondary button reads “Cancel” before queuing and “Close” after.
A note in the dialog reads: “This uses the same live TTAB analysis pipeline available from individual proceeding pages. Completed reports appear under Analysis → TTAB.”
If your account does not have analysis access, selecting Analyze selected opens an upgrade prompt instead of the dialog.
Passage context preview
Selecting Preview in context on any passage opens a side panel with the badge “Authenticated context” and the description “Read the matched language on its source page before relying on or copying it.”
While loading, the panel displays “Authenticating source context…”. Once loaded, the panel shows:
The source page text with the matched passage highlighted
A metadata grid with: Source role, Speaker / side, Proceeding and entry, Verified page, Source type, How to use it, Claim capacity
Any source warning (shown in an amber callout)
Coverage limitations (shown in an amber callout)
Open official source button — links to the source document
View proceeding button — links to the proceeding detail page
Ask Markus about this research
The Ask Markus about this research button in the page header (visible on large screens) passes your current research query, the selected proceeding numbers (or the first five results if none are selected), and the visible passage count to the Markus AI workspace.
Errors and partial results
If part of the research service is unavailable, an alert titled “Part of TTAB Research is unavailable” appears with error details.
If passage search returns partial results, a warning titled “Partial source results” appears.
If a question falls outside the TTAB’s registration role, an alert titled “Outside the TTAB’s registration role” appears with no results.