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USPTO - do they do a common law search?
Posted by Anonymous . updated on 2/26/2009
When trademarks are filed with the USPTO, do they do a common law search to see if the mark is in-use?
Or, do they only limit their searches to the USPTO database?
Are there any other databases they use to check a trademark?
Answers (3)
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JSonnab...
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Examiners only search the Trademark Office database, essentially the TESS database (although their interface is different). Examiners do not generally search common law tm sources, but they often do search non USPTO sources to support descriptiveness rejections and the like.
- Jeff
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ipdude
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Jeff,
Thanks.
If "before" a federal trademark application makes it to the opposition phase, if someone discovers that the federal application infringes on their common law trademark, is there any benefit of notifying the examiner of the existence of the common law trademark that the application infringes on? Or, should that always wait until the opposition period?
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JSonnab...
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A common law tm owner can send a letter of protest, but I find opposition is the most effective tool.
- Jeff
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