How To Do A USPTO Search Let's walk through the mechanics of searching a trademark on the USPTO database. We're based in Nashville, and we're surrounded by distilleries. Let's say that one of these distilleries comes up with the following tag line for one of its products: THE GRAND OLD DRINK OF THE SOUTH. To run a search on this potential trademark, you should first navigate to the USPTO website. Click on "Trademarks" and select "Searching Trademarks". Navigate to the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). You will now be presented with 3 options: Basic Word Mark Search (New User); Word and/or Design [...] Read More

Let's walk through the mechanics of doing a logo search on the USPTO database. In this example, we will assume that you want to use the logo below for legal services.   To run a search on this logo, you should first navigate to the USPTO website.   Click on "Trademarks" and select "Searching Trademarks".   Navigate to the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).     The starting point for a logo search is the USPTO's Design Search Code Manual. The USPTO assigns design search codes to applications and registrations to help with searching the USPTO database for conflicting marks. Links to the Design Search Code [...] Read More

Clearly, a good trademark is one that is not already used by another company. The basic test used by the USPTO when determining whether a mark can be registered and by the courts when determining infringement is whether there is a likelihood of confusion between the two marks. The USPTO will find a likelihood of confusion “when the marks are so similar and the goods and/or services for which they are used are so related that consumers would mistakenly believe they come from the same source.” This is evaluated using the sight, sound, and meaning of the two trademarks. Before [...] Read More