Secrets for Performing a Professional Trademark Search

Your company's name or “Brand” is your single most valuable asset. It embodies all that you have accomplished over the years – customers satisfied, awards won, your very reputation. For Amazon sellers, it is also required for Amazon Brand Registry (ABR), so Amazon sellers are especially aware of how critical it is to obtain and maintain this registration.

To register your trademark, a critical first step is to search of prior applications and registrations to “clear” the mark -- making sure the mark is available, and not infringing someone else’s trademark. If another company has already registered the same or a similar mark, your trademark application will be denied, and you may be committing trademark infringement if you start using your selected mark.

When you do a trademark search (uspto.gov), you need to not only search for identical marks, but you also need to search for marks that are different but still similar.

The legal standard for determining whether a new mark infringes on an existing mark is whether there is a "likelihood of consumer confusion." To determine if there is a “likelihood of confusion,” you look to both the mark, and to the goods/services being sold.

Books Available on Amazon

To help product developers perform a thorough search, we have prepared a short and easy to use book, Trademark Search NOW!, which will walk you through the steps for performing a quality clearance search.

We also have an advanced guide, Protect Your Product in 3 Easy Steps, that shows Amazon sellers how to protect their products from the competition using patents and trademarks.