The USPTO uses the International classification of goods and services for trademarks, which divides goods and services into 45 categories below. A more detailed explanation of the International classification of goods and services  is available on the USPTO website. GOODS Class 1 Chemicals used in industry, science and photography, as [...] Read More

We made a handy-dandy trademark glossary of trademark terms, with definitions in plain English. abandonedAcceptable Identification of Goods and Services ManualAllegation of Useappealarbitrary trademarkCancellationcease and desist letterclassification of goods and servicescollective trademarkcommon law trademarkcopyrightdisclaimerdistinctivenessExaminer's AmendmentExamining Attorneyfanciful trademarkfiling basisFinal Office Actiongenericgenericidegoodsgoods and servicesin commerceincontestabilityINTAIntent-to-UseInternational Trademark AssociationITUlikelihood of confusionMadrid Protocolmerely descriptiveNOANon-final Office [...] Read More

The International Trademark Association (INTA) is the world's leading organization for trademark owners and practitioners. INTA's website has a lot of great educational materials and other resources available to the public for free. Read More

The USPTO has an online directory of all of its employees, which comes in handy if you have your Examining Attorney's name, but no contact information. Read More

Trademark Oppositions, Cancellations, and appeals of a refusal of a trademark application are all handled by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). The documents related to these proceedings can be filed and accessed online using the USPTO's Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA), which is pretty convenient. Read More

The USPTO allows you file basically everything electronically on its website through its TEAS system. Conveniently, every USPTO trademark form is indexed on a single page of the USPTO website, so if you aren't sure what form you need you can look it up pretty easily there. Read More

The USPTO's online Goods and Services ID Manual is a database of the acceptable goods and services for TEAS+ applications. You need to use one of these listings in order to get the lower filing fees of a TEAS+ application. Read More

The USPTO's Trademark Status Document Retrieval (TSDR) is an online database of the status and documents related to a trademark. It's a great way to check the status of your application or registration. To use it, you just type in the serial number or registration number of the trademark you [...] Read More

The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), is a searchable, online database of all trademarks and trademark applications at the USPTO. While it can be extremely useful, it can be a bit of trap. Unless you use the USPTO's search protocol, it will only return direct hits. This means that if you [...] Read More

The Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) is the handbook that Examining Attorneys use to evaluate trademarks. It's super long, but contains everything you need to know about securing a federal trademark. Because it cites statutes, regulations, and relevant case law for each point, it is a great place to [...] Read More