Even after registering your trademark, you may encounter serious resistance if you forget or intentionally ignore to conduct a trademark search prior to filing. Otherwise, you may have overlooked the fact that your trademark still requires a reliable timepiece. The sole reason you need an excellent trademark monitor service for your trademark is because of this. The Trademark Watch Service searches all of the most recently published trademark applications at regular intervals. Your search for marks that are physically or phonetically similar to your trademark and the same kind of goods and services that you have registered. Once an imprint has been found, your trademark watch service provider must send you an alert in the form of a report.
Are trademark searches helpful?
Yes, immensely helpful. Here is why:
- Quicker identification of any sort of trademark infringement or misuse makes it easier for corporations to protect their IP rights.
- Furthermore, if your mark infringes on someone’s trademark rights, you could face legal action. You cannot infringe on trademark rights since they are intellectual property.
- Early identification of trademark infringement becomes even more critical when a third party seeks to register a potentially conflicting trademark. Brand owners with prior rights must lodge objections (or oppositions) to such trademark registrations.
- Early identification is also critical for preventing conflicting uses and/or applications in general (e.g., bad faith applications) and for accumulating evidence of misuse to combat such conflicts. It will also save you from going for infringement lawsuits.
- Even if you do not intend to take action, trademark searching is a practical approach to keep track of what competitors and third parties are up to.
- In some situations, such oppositions must be lodged within 30 days after a potentially conflicting trademark’s publication. If the deadline is missed, it will still be possible to contest the trademark registration, but it will be more expensive and complicated.
What to keep in mind before conducting a trademark search?
- Word, phrases, slogans and logo marks
Many companies have two possible trademarks: one for their name and one for their logo. Therefore, make sure that you search for both.
- Geographic perspective
In which countries do you intend to market and sell products or services under your brand’s trademark? Trademarks are filed on a per-country basis, and therefore a comprehensive trademark availability search will concentrate on the geographical markets where you aim to operate/file trademarks.
- Look into the cracks.
While searching for identical or similar marks, make sure to go beyond direct hits, i.e. the exact name. It’s vital for the search to investigate further. Instead, a good search would seek similar names or logos, which may include similar or other spellings.
10 Tips For Conducting A Meaningful Trademark Clearance Search
- Have A List of Objectives Handy before you conduct the trademark search. Some key questions a trademark availability or clearance search must answer are:
- Is the trademark still in use, or has it been retired?
- What are the chances that the consumers may confuse your trademark with something similar?
- Are the two companies alike in terms of product or service category?
- What are your business locations?
- Keep the search comprehensive.
Make sure you search for every intended trademark. Moreover, also make sure to focus on various forms of trademark, i.e., slogans, phrases, logos, shapes, colors, etc.
Did You Know You Can Trademark A QR Code? Here is how
2. Use multiple trademark search tools (both free and paid)
If you think searching for identical and similar trademarks through just one tool is enough, you are highly mistaken. Moreover, searching just using free tools is not enough as most free tools don’t search for abandoned trademarks. So, what’s the solution?
Use multiple free and paid trademark search tools to ensure the trademark search is comprehensive.
Here are 4 free tools for trademark search
3. Don’t forget domain name searching
When looking for similar trademarks, domain searches are sometimes disregarded, but this should not be the case. A domain name search should be:
- To see if your proposed domain name is available, go to Google Domains.
- To see if the domain name is for sale, go to Flippa.
If the domain name you want is already in use, you should think about altering your company name. Because it appears on business cards, emails, marketing, and other platforms, the domain name is crucial.
If there are no comparable names in the market after doing research, it is best to to register the trademark with the USPTO.
Why Hire A Trademark Search Expert?
It might be difficult to determine whether a suggested business name is available in the United States. There is no one website or tool that does a complete trademark availability search. The main reason for the complication is that a company may register its business name as a trademark simply by using it. To find comparable in-use and pending trademarks, trademark specialists employ a variety of tactics. Furthermore, most of these free tools are insufficient, resulting in a trademark search report missing crucial company name trademarks. Unregistered business names goes missing even by the USPTO’s TESS federal database.
Want expert help in a trademark search? TMReady Can Help You In:
- A comprehensive trademark availability report that covers all the aspects of a trademark.
- Avoid lawsuits and liability for intentional infringement.
- To reduce the expense of trademark infringement lawsuits
- Keep your company’s reputation intact in the market.
- To conduct multi-country trademark searches based on WIPO standards.
Want to know more about our services? Click here to know.