Thread: Brand and product name

I am going to launch a new product soon and wanted to check several names I am cotemplating and wanted to check if these are registered. Does anyone know any good sources to check this?

Also one of the brand names I have is in use in another product but totally different industry, could this be a possible problem? I know some companies are very celous of their name brand and go after business with the same name even if its got nothing to do with the same industry. For example ZARA is suing someone using their last name Zara in their business, I believe law.

If it's a registered trademark or business name... What do you think the answer is?

Right, but only if it is registered. Thats what I want to check. I want to know if in fact it is registered.

uspto.gov

should have all your answers. you can conduct a search to see if the name you want is taken or if its available. there are other sites but nothing is more complete than this site because it logs every applicant.

^^^ Great resource, thanks for sharing.

this is good info supraman. ill need this also.

it's interesting that it looks like there can be (or are) numerous registered trademarks for the same names... is this usual? what could an owner of a TM do if there are 5 other registrations with the same name? For example, Zara, like the poster above referenced? I thought the purpose was to ensure only 1 entity was using that TM?

Originally Posted by JPatterson

it's interesting that it looks like there can be (or are) numerous registered trademarks for the same names... is this usual? what could an owner of a TM do if there are 5 other registrations with the same name? For example, Zara, like the poster above referenced? I thought the purpose was to ensure only 1 entity was using that TM?

Typically it is associated with a specific use or industry, so you can have the same name used in different cases if there isn't a likelihood of name confusion. This is a huge oversimplification, however. See Apple Computer Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd. for some serious legal wrangling over names and logos.

I've gone through this and to be honest, it's probably best to let a professional figure that out for you. Name guidelines are very annoying, especially if it's a common name (My search report came back with three pages of registered companies sharing my company name). We have NUANS reports here in Canada, I'm sure there's something in the US that is similar, take it to a corp filing office and they can probably do a full search for less than $80 and tell you if it will be accepted or not.

Originally Posted by JPatterson

it's interesting that it looks like there can be (or are) numerous registered trademarks for the same names... is this usual? what could an owner of a TM do if there are 5 other registrations with the same name? For example, Zara, like the poster above referenced? I thought the purpose was to ensure only 1 entity was using that TM?

Simply put; names can be the same if the companies associated with them are not in direct competition with each other.

An auto parts store named "Hell Yeah" can be registered even if there is a pharmaceuticals manufacturing company named "Hell Yeah", ya know?

They ,in a sense, base it off of the risk for confusion among consumers. An auto parts store and a pharmaceutical manufacturer completely unrelated.