Online Trademark Registration

When you apply for federal trademark registration, the USPTO will search all pending trademark applications and all registered trademarks to see if there are other marks that are same like yours. The trademark office will decline to carry out Trademark Registration if it finds that there is a probability of confusion between your mark and one more mark.

To reduce the possibility that your trademark application will be refused because of a probability of puzzlement, it is an excellent idea to look for the USPTO database for related marks prior to you file your request or utilize a TrademarkRegistration Service. If you file an application and your registration is declined, the filing fee is not recompensed.

What does probability of confusion signify?

A probability of confusion happens when two marks are so alike that someone may wrongly presume that different companies’ services or products come from the similar source. A possibility of confusion has two constituents:

• The marks themselves must be alike. They do not have to be equal.
• The services or products that the marks recognize must be associated to each other. Unrelated services or products can have same marks without creating a probability of confusion. For instance, a mark utilized by a fast food company might be confused with a mark for a beverage company because the two products are related to food and beverage. It is not likely that a mark for a fast food company would be confused with a mark for a t-shirt company.

How to carry out a trademark search?

You can carry out a trademark search by means of the USPTO’s online TESS or Trademark Electronic Search System. TESS comprises all the trademark office’s pending and active and inactive registered trademarks. Here are some tips for carrying out a trademark search on TESS:

• When you carry out a search, you should try to expose all marks that may be similar to yours, not just those that are the same. That means checking for similar artistic designs and alternate spellings of words.
• The USPTO website has extra information and tips on conducting your individual trademark search.
• If you find a mark that seems alike, the next step is to gaze at the services and/or goods for which the mark has been registered to notice if they are associated in any manner. Related marks can be registered if the services or goods are unconnected.

Other Kinds of Trademark Searches

As trademarks gain protection by being utilized in connection with services or goods, an online trademark registration does not have to be registered with the USPTO to be legitimate. Certain trademarks have “common law” protection, and others are safeguarded by state trademark registrations.

If you want to expose all existing uses of a trademark, and not just those that can stop your trademark from being registered because of a possibility of confusion, you can choose to carry out a more wide-ranging search, including records for individual states and investigate online for companies that may be using a mark same like yours.