Trademark Search

[pageoneresults]

Good morning everyone! One of the things that I'm asked quite frequently is;

"Do you know if that term or phrase is trademarked?"

There is an online tool that you can use called TESS which stands for Trademark Electronic Search System. I use it infrequently but have always found it to be a valuable tool when confirming any trademark issues.

Give it a try!

TESS (http://www.uspto.gov/)

Click on the link at left called "Trademarks" and then click on the top left link called "Search Pending and Registered Trademarks (TESS)" under services.

You can do copyright searches here...

Copyright Search (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/search/)

[bigDugan]

Thanks for the links Pageone, I added them to my reference bookmarks.

[Kal]

This brings up an interesting point and one that I am currently grappling with for a client. Say you were a company with offices in Australia and New Zealand and you also registered business names in both countries and bought domains reflecting this (ie businesname.com.au and businessname.co.nz).

Now say you want to purchase the domain name in the U.S. or UK that matches your business name. In Australia & NZ you are required to have the matching business name before you're allowed to purchase the domain. Is that the case in the U.K.? I think it is. But not the U.S. So if businessname.com was available and you bought it, could the owner of the U.S. business name (if exactly the same) sue you for using their business name in the dot com space?

Also, say you couldn't get the .com version and bought the .biz version, could the owner of the U.S. business name (and presumably owner of businessname.com) sue you for using "their" business name promoting to the U.S. market? Keeping in mind that you own the same business name in your own country? Opinions welcome.

[Mel]

HI Kal:

Things are not that black and white in the US, where business names are not registered federally but by each state. Thus there can be several businesses of the same name in the US.

Also I think you can use any name you like so long as that name is not a registered trademark or service mark.

There must be hundreds of US companies with names like Bills Auto Service, and there seem to be no problems.

[prosayist]

There's a Bill's Auto Service in MY town! :D

[WebSavvy]

Mel's right Kal. Here in the US as long as one files a DBA you can operate under any name. It's called a fictitious name filing form that you can get from any bank, fill out, and file. It just means that "Joe Smith" is also doing business under the name of "Captain Kangaroo" and it's perfectly legal.

[pageoneresults]

There's a Bill's Auto Service in MY town!There might even be three or four!

[Kal]

Thanks everyone, that is a relief to know! :p