Increase Your Odds of Trademark Registration With A Trademark Search

Always make sure your mark can be registered before filing for trademark protection. To do this, use the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to make sure your mark meets the requirements for registration. Also make sure that you research to see if any individual has already registered something similar to your mark. The trademark office makes it easy to search for marks on its trademark website. You can start your search by using the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).

The goal of a trademark search is to knockout all marks for which there exist an identical or highly similar mark. You do not want to file a mark which looks like someones trademark. Further, you must assess the risk of a likelihood of confusion rejection by a trademark examiner in reviewing your trademark application. A trademark search covers not only the wording in a word mark, but the descriptive elements of a graphic mark. You can also hire third parties to do a reverse graphic search to determine similarities of graphic marks based on appearance alone. Our Dallas trademark attorneys can assist you in trademark searches and overcoming examiner rejections to trademark registration. 

There are three different types of trademarks, and the searching efforts may be different depending on your type of mark.  For instance, standard character marks are straightforward whereas graphic marks may require you to search design descriptions of a mark rather than the words of a mark alone.  The design elements of a graphical mark are most often described in words as a part of an original trademark application (e.g. triangle, circle, concentric circles, arrows, trapezoidal, etc.) So, whereas a word mark search will use similar or related words for searching similar marks, a graphic mark search will use structural descriptions or symbols for searching purposes. The three different types of trademarks are as follows:

• Internet Materials: Searching the Internet for similar marks on search engines such as Google and Bing can give you a quick understanding of what is out there; 
• Newspapers & Periodicals: National newspapers, magazines, financial articles, and other similar publications can help you discover individuals of who are using similar marks;
• State Trademark Registries: Each state has their own trademark registries which should be searched for similar marks; 
• Federal & State Court Cases: U.S. Federal court cases and state law cases, as well as the federal and state registries, may indicate marks which are in use; and
• Governmental & County Business Filings: Corporate filings, such as incorporation or DBAs, can be an important source of information when determining common law trademark usage. 

Importantly, if you find that your mark is not already registered and is not otherwise in use by someone at common law, then your new “inherently distinctive” mark has the best chance of becoming federally registered with the trademark office on the principle register. Inherently distinctive marks include suggestive, fanciful and arbitrary marks. Examples of these include brand names like EXXON and SPANDEX, which were made up for the purpose of functioning as trademarks and have no formal meaning in the common English language. Marks that are arbitrary (e.g. APPLE for computers) or suggestive (e.g. MICROSOFT for software) can also qualify as trademarks. However, words that merely describe the nature or quality of the goods or services sold with the mark are not permitted to be registered (e.g. HOT CHOCOLATE for a hot chocolate beverages). A mark that describes the actual product being sold cannot function as a trademark. 

For more information on trademark registration please see our firm's Trademark Registration page.