Comprehensive Trademark Search

Trademarks are for goods.  Service marks are for services.  There are common law trademarks and registered trademarks.  In the United States we have common law. This law recognizes rights in trademarks through use.  If you use a trademark to identify the source  of your product or service, you establish common law trademark rights in the geographic are where you use the mark.  If you operate a barber shop in Denver, Colorado under the name ZEPPY CUTTER you will establish ZEPPY CUTTER as a common law mark for barber shop services in the Denver area.  No registration is required to establish common law trademark rights. But those rights are limited to the area where the mark is actually used.  Common law trademarks may be designated with the TM symbol, while common law service marks may be designated with the SM symbol.

Registered marks are those that have been issued a trademark registration certificate by the United states Patent and Trademark Office. One of the most important benefits of registering your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office is that the registration gives you the presumptive right to use the trademark throughout the United States. Contrast this to the common law trademark that may only be asserted in those areas where it has actually been used. Once you have registered your trademark or service mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office you should designate the registered mark with the ® symbol.  Registration is very important for any business that intends to provide products or services throughout the United States. Registration also allows you to easily apply for international trademark protection in many other countries and regions of the world, and if you file your international application within six months of your U.S. application you ordinarily can claim your U.S. filing date as the priority date for your claim to trademark rights in the countries or regions where your international application is filed.

Trademarks also differ in many other ways. Some trademarks are stronger than other trademarks based on the trademark itself (inherent strength) or its level of market penetration and consumer familiarity (market strength).  Arbitrary or fanciful marks— those that in no way are suggestive or descriptive of the product or service in connection with which they are used—have the greatest inherent strength.

The USPTO will refuse your registration if the trademark is merely descriptive or if it is too close to a prior registered or prior applied-for mark for related goods or services.

Various Reasons The USPTO May Reject Your Trademark Application

• The mark is a surname
• The mark is incapable of functioning as a trademark
• The mark is or includes a flag of a state or nation
• The mark identifies a living individual by using their name or likeness without their consent
• The mark is a foreign word the English translation of which is descriptive or generic for the goods or services
• The mark is a foreign word that is the equivalent of an English word that is already registered for the goods or services
• The mark is merely geographically descriptive of the goods or services (for example NEW YORK PURSES for wallets and handbags manufactured in New York City)
• The mark is deceptively misdescriptive of the goods or services (for example NEW YORK PURSES for wallets and handbags manufactured in China and imported by a company in California; or ALL NATURAL HEALTHY for yogurt with ingredients including artificial flavorings)

The USPTO formerly would refuse registration if it considered the mark to be disparaging, but this basis for refusal of registration has been held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.