Before you adopt, use, or attempt to register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), it is advisable to conduct a search of the federal and state trademark registries and common law rights in unregistered trademarks and trade names to determine if there are any prior conflicting rights in the mark which would act as a bar to your registration.
A trademark search can save an applicant time, effort, and money in the long run. If there is a conflicting mark, the applicant can avoid (1) infringing another’s mark, (2) investing in the marketing and advertising of a mark it cannot use, (3) the filing fees and costs of filing and pursuing an application, and (4) legal costs resulting from needless litigation.
However, even the broadest search cannot guarantee that there will not be a conflict. This is true particularly where another party has “common law” rights in the mark which it has not registered. Nevertheless, trademark searches greatly reduce the risk that an applicant’s mark is identical or confusingly similar to a mark in use.
The scope of such searches range from a low-level search to one that is comprehensive. The lower end usually involves a computer database search of words only (not designs) of the registered, pending, and recently abandoned files, and a manual search of the records of the USPTO. The higher end search involves a search of the records of the USPTO and state registries, corporate names, trade journals, industrial indexes, major city telephone white pages, and internet domain names. The typical turn-around time for a trademark search is usually one week, but rush jobs are available.
If you are interested in pursuing a trademark registration and wish to conduct a trademark search of your mark, please give us a call.
– Denise Ciampitti