The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has its own search system that allows users to see what trademarks are pending/registered.  TESS is a great tool for conducting a preliminary (or “knockout”) search.  However, if you do not have experience with trademarks, the results can be confusing.  One element of that is the distinction between trademarks … Read more

If you are looking for a trademark attorney, you will notice that they offer several types of trademark search services.  The most common searches are: common law, state, and federal.  While my practice focuses on the latter, today I want to discuss the common law trademark search. What Is the Common Law Trademark Search? To … Read more

One thing that I commonly hear from clients is that it is difficult to come up with a good trademark.  When going through the trademark search process it can sometimes seem like “all the good ones are taken.”  Running into conflicts every time you think of a new name can quickly become frustrating.  However, trademark … Read more

In a previous post, I discussed the knockout search as a great way to begin researching potential trademarks.  It consists of some basic trademark search techniques that you can do yourself.  The TESS trademark search is very helpful if you know how to use it.  By using the TESS trademark search, you can eliminate marks that … Read more