Date post: | 17-Jun-2015 |
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Law |
Upload: | arun-nagarajan |
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Ami Bhatt & Arun Nagarajancheckmarkapp.herokuapp.com
CheckMark Making trademark clearance more efficient
Trademarks are valuable assets of every business. Selecting and registering trademarks and important process in protecting this assetCornerstone to this process is the USPTO site.
Trademarks: Background
To determine whether the mark can be used and registered, conduct trademark clearance● Avoid refusal by PTO for likelihood of confusion with an existing trademark● Avoid suit for infringement of an existing trademark● Allows for selection of a strong mark● Reduces risk of having to rebrand or destroying infringing merchandise
after the launch of a product or campaign● Ability to enforce trademark against others
Importance of Trademark Clearance
Broadly, a Two-Step Process
1. “Knock-Out” Search 2. “Full” Search
Searching on USPTO Site: TESS
Basic Search - The Name Says It All
Structured Search - Limited Criteria
Free Form Search - Mastery of Codes
Constructing Free Form Searches
Result of Records
Individually Review Each Result
And PTO Website Has More Info!TSDR contains information relevant for clearance, but not available through TESS records results page, including:● Goods or Services● Date of Registration● Design Elements● Owner● “Live” or “Dead”● Prosecution History of the Mark
Time and Hassle!
Beware the time-out
What Does This Mean?
Trademark Office website has relevant information, but is not easy to obtain and view.Leads to inefficient, uninformed, incorrect decision-making.
Solution: CheckMark
CheckMark allows a user to leverage information available on the Trademark Office Site to save time and make better decisions.
Demo
Automatic Alerts
Beyond Delivering Key Information
Build product’s capabilities to include:● Smarter Searching:
○ Advanced searching and refine results by TSDR criteria○ Add way to search by design elements○ Phonetic searching capabilities ○ Provide “similarity” index○ Suggested related classes of goods and services
● Go beyond trademark clearance: ○ Use in registration and prosecution of marks○ Brand and Mark protection through automatic alerts
Example - Related Classes
Identify that the relevant service is beer. CheckMark would note relevant goods & services in classes 032, 033, 040, 043.
Thank you!
Questions?
Ami Bhatt, Arun NagarajanAttorney, Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. Lead Technologist, Stealth
Checkmark: Sample Result
Checkmark: Link to TSDR Info