How Do I Conduct A Trademark Search?
Before applying to register a trademark, it’s essential to search the trademark database to see if there are similar marks for similar goods and services. If in the USPTO trademark database there are already applied for or registered trademarks that are similar to yours, your trademark may be refused registration.
Search The USPTO Trademark Search Database
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, where trademarks are registered, refuses trademark registration to those trademark applications that are “confusingly similar” to existing trademark applications or trademark registrations that are already in the trademark database. If your applied-for trademark is “confusingly similar” to an existing application or registration, then you will be refused registration.
What Should You Choose To Search In Your Trademark Search?
Once you’ve gone into the USPTO trademark search system to search for your trademark, it’s important to know what to search. Are you looking for the trademark itself, for a particular serial number, for an owner name, or for something else? If you’re searching for the name of the trademark, use that to narrow the information that you get from the database. There is also a way to filter what results you get by choosing certain classes of goods in the sidebar on the left side. This helps you find only those trademark registrations or trademark applications that are for goods and services that may be related to yours.
We Only Concern Ourselves With Related Goods and Services
Remember that when your are searching for a trademark, you are concerned only with goods and services that are “related” to yours. If the goods and services returned by your search are not “related” to yours, it’s likely not a conflict.
What Goods And Services Are Considered “Related”?
Be aware, however, that you might not be aware of all things that are considered “related” to your goods and services, and these may not even be in the same class designation. For example, sunglasses and clothing are considered “related,” even if they aren’t in the same class, because consumers typically encounter those together under the same brand in the marketplace.
Goods and services can also be in the same class and be unrelated. For example, toy ant farms and cookie presses are in the same class, but these are clearly not “related” in the experience or mind of the consumer.
Different Goods And Services May Allow More or Less Similar Trademarks
Conducting your own trademark search is a good way to avoid obvious conflicts, but is not a substitute for a clearance search conducted by an experienced trademark attorney. A trademark specialist will have vastly more knowledge about the types of things that are considered “confusingly similar,” and will have knowledge as well of the context of the search results, and what classes allow similar trademarks and what classes tend to give individual brands broader rights.
For example, in the classes of liquors and spirits, the USPTO tends to grant narrower rights to each registrant, so very similar marks may be registrable for those sorts of goods. In other classes, marks may be given broader rights.
An Experienced Trademark Attorney Will Know The Rules For Your Particular Situation
The issue of whether marks are given broader or narrower rights can also depend upon what’s already in the trademark database for a particular type of goods. An experienced trademark lawyer will be familiar with these nuances, and may be able to get you a registration for a mark that you didn’t think was registrable — it all depends on what’s in the trademark database.
The bottom line is that while conducting your own trademark search may rule out any obvious conflicts, only an experienced trademark attorney knows the rules and will be able to properly analyze the trademark database for conflicts. A trademark lawyer may see obstacles or opportunities that are not obvious to laypersons or even to other attorneys, and will help you craft a trademark application filing strategy that will maximize your trademark coverage in the manner that is most valuable for your trademark usage goals.
I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page, to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.
Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.