question Trademark Check

[Isac]

Hello friends,

I need some help. Can anyone tell me how can we check trademark of a domain name, brand name or app name.

Thank You !

 

[gilescoley]

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4809:oluvln.1.1

 

[frank-germany]

https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/einsteiger

marke = name to be checked

 

[Isac]

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4809:oluvln.1.1

https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/einsteiger

marke = name to be checked

Thank you both of you. What about app , which is used by whole world

 

[vravis9]

These two are useful for free check..

https://www.trademark247.com

https://www.trademarkia.com

 

[Isac]

These two are useful for free check..

https://www.trademark247.com

https://www.trademarkia.com

Thank bro. what about app name

 

[frank-germany]

the extension doesn't make a difference

 

[vravis9]

@Isac I don't know about app names....but I think a good source is Google Play store...Apple app store will give already existing apps...and for future launches or plans to launches...can be found in GitHub and Tech Crunch...these cover startups and all things related to tech..

Hope it helps...

 

[Corey]

Madrid - The International Trademark System -

The Madrid System allows businesses to search and register trademarks and service marks in up to 92 countries.

Cheers
Corey

 

[vravis9]

the extension doesn't make a difference

Yes @Isac ...

If you are talking about possible names in apps...my above msg might make sense...

If you are asking about app trademarks...it is not a rule of only for app trademarks.

Thanks

 

[MadAboutDomains]

The official trademark search tool provided by the EU is at the following URL:
https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/welcome

Whilst it's provided by the EU, it includes US trademarks and lots of other trademark offices all rolled into one search interface.

 

[Bannen]

Best I've seen is this one:

WIPO tm searches

Gives you searches of worldwide tm's in all countries, includes tm's that are alive, dead, and pending. Note that after each search, you have to delete the link showing the previous search term, otherwise it adds searches together and skews the results.

 

[jberryhill]

Google.

You put the term you are searching into Google.

You look at the results and determine whether there is a particular entity whose goods or services appear to be strongly correlated with that term in a distinctive way.

Whether someone may have registered their trademark is secondary to whether they HAVE a trademark.

On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out what it is you are asking in the first place. I'm always surprised at how many answers there are to questions which don't make any legal sense as-framed. Perhaps you could re-phrase the question or give an example of what it is you are actually trying to figure out.

 

[jberryhill]

Let me give you an example of how well this works.

Take the word "dog". Put it into Google. Look at the results. It turns out that there is no particular company which is strongly associated with the word "dog", and it further appears that the word "dog" is a generic term for a type of animal.

Now, take the word "Budweiser". Put it into Google. Look at the results. Notice how, unlike the word "dog", the word "Budweiser" tends to be associated very strongly with the products of one particular beer company (and less so with a beer company in the Czech Republic).

That's the difference between something that is a trademark, and something that is not a trademark, and how you use Google to tell the difference.

 

[jberryhill]

...but looking in, say, the US database, the German database, or the WIPO database, is going to be less helpful for you, for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is that domainers tend to look for the wrong things anyway. An example of this is here:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/recently-aquired-domain-slightly-concerned-about-copyright.1104894/

In that thread, the poster wanted to know if "skyhigh security" was a trademark, and did a US trademark search for "skyhigh security" instead of checking whether "skyhigh" by itself was a registered mark for security products. So, if you are unfamiliar with how to check partial words, variants, or boolean search operations, then you are unlikely to find relevant results anyway.

The second reason is that domainers seldom know how to interpret what the database results are telling them. There are lots of things in these database other than "trademarks". Domainers typically cannot tell the difference between applications that are use-based or intent-to-use based, applications that are refused and abandoned, registrations which may have simply not been renewed as an oversight, or any of the various types of things that might turn up as a result of using these databases. All of the various data fields in a trademark database record may, or may not, mean something important. For example, a common question here at Namepros is the meaning of the "LIVE" or "DEAD" status indicator in a USPTO database record. The unfortunate answer, which is mostly ignored, is that the "LIVE" or "DEAD" status might mean any of several things, depending on other information in the record or accessible via the TSDR database linked to the TESS database record.

So, that said, have fun! But, honestly, for most purposes, Google is a better bet than anything that people have mentioned in this thread. Once you get over the common, and wrong, belief among people in this forum that trademark registration is a necessary incident to "having a trademark", then you will understand why Google makes the most sense.

 

[frank-germany]

.
Once you get over the common, and wrong, belief among people in this forum that trademark registration is a necessary incident to "having a trademark", then you will understand why Google makes the most sense.

He John

would you consider to explain why
that is so

and is it true only in the USA?

 

[frank-germany]

 

[frank-germany]

so what's the use of having a "trademark" then
when w/o registering it
you can't defend it?

 

[frank-germany]

Google.

You put the term you are searching into Google.

You look at the results and determine whether there is a particular entity whose goods or services appear to be strongly correlated with that term in a distinctive way.

Whether someone may have registered their trademark is secondary to whether they HAVE a trademark.

On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out what it is you are asking in the first place. I'm always surprised at how many answers there are to questions which don't make any legal sense as-framed. Perhaps you could re-phrase the question or give an example of what it is you are actually trying to figure out.

Hey John,

if you check
"apple" at google
all you will find is apple inc ( computer ) related websites ...


at least all these people didn't care for your advice
- all registered trademarks for " apple" -

so I guess your information
well, let's say-
is incomplete.


thanks
Frank

https://www.trademarkia.com/trademarks-search.aspx?tn=apple

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Hey John,

if you check
"apple" at google
all you will find is apple inc ( computer ) related websites ...


at least all these people didn't care for your advice
- all registered trademarks for " apple" -

so I guess your information
well, let's say-
is incomplete.


thanks
Frank

As a complainant you have to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the registration of the domain is targeted directly at your company and nobody else and that the registrant must have known about your use of the term, by such means like if they were to check by common means, like a Google search in their country.

I don't wish to speak on his behalf, but I think his point is that just being in the database isn't enough to prove you have a case in UDRP. Most normal people don't know about trademark registries, but they will know about your brand if they were to conduct a simple Google search.

Probably most of the companies in the list that you have given couldn't win a UDRP case on the merits of having a trademark alone, because all the complainant has to say is that other companies also use the name "Apple"... so they can't have been targeting the other company directly.

Further to this, the trademarks that you have picked out specifically aren't word marks, they are trademarks that are made up of words/letters and a design, so I suspect you'd have a job, as a complainant, in proving that a domain containing the term 'apple' was infringing your mark directly, unless you have the word mark registered as well, the design is distinctly famous in trade or the infringing party are displaying your registered mark design almost exactly on the domain as well.

 

[frank-germany]

As a complainant you have to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the registration of the domain is targeted directly at your company and nobody else and that the registrant must have known about your use of the term, by such means like if they were to check by common means, like a Google search in their country.

I don't wish to speak on his behalf, but I think his point is that just being in the database isn't enough to prove you have a case in UDRP. Most normal people don't know about trademark registries, but they will know about your brand if they were to conduct a simple Google search.

Probably most of the companies in the list that you have given couldn't win a UDRP case on the merits of having a trademark alone, because all the complainant has to say is that other companies also use the name "Apple"... so they can't have been targeting the other company directly.

Further to this, the trademarks that you have picked out specifically aren't word marks, they are trademarks that are made up of words/letters and a design, so I suspect you'd have a job, as a complainant, in proving that a domain containing the term 'apple' was infringing your mark directly, unless you have the word mark registered as well, the design is distinctly famous in trade or the infringing party are displaying your registered mark design almost exactly on the domain as well.

as "apple" is a "famous" brand
stricter rules apply anyway

but in order to "infringe"
you have to infringe in the same class in the same country

- as far as I know .
I am not a lawyer
no legal advise-

 

[MadAboutDomains]

a "apple" is a "famous" brand
stricter rules apply anyway

but in order to "infringe"
you have to infringe in the same class in the same country

- as far as I know .
I am not a lawyer
no legal advise-

I'm not sure that stricter rules do apply...? Isn't it just that their company covers such a vast number of products and services in so many countries that it's difficult to operate without infringing their rights, or at least they could accuse you of it? The one thing that you probably couldn't get away with, would be that you couldn't claim that you've never heard of Apple.

Your point about infringing - it's not so much the same class, but the same products and/or services as described in the trademark application. If it's not mentioned in the description of the products and/or services for the trademark when they registered it, then it isn't protected for those products and/or services.

However, this is further complicated, because if the trademark holder doesn't use the trademark for any of their stated products and/or services (there is usually a time period that is specified that you must use it by), then they haven't actually used the mark in trade, so they technically don't have a right to have the mark protected. If you believe this to be the case, a simple form and a few hundred dollars and you can get anyone's trademark registration either fully or partially revoked, because this will prompt the trademark office to get the trademark holder to prove that they have used the mark in trade. This could be by producing pictures of marketing material of the product itself with the trademark on it, sales information for the product/service within the time period, marketing website screenshots, advertising expenditure etc. If they don't use it, then others will be free to.

The use of the trademark is the key to protection, which extends into the point about being able to find it on Google. If it's being used then it should be easily provable as such.

 

[frank-germany]

I'm not sure that stricter rules do apply...? Isn't it just that their company covers such a vast number of products and services in so many countries that it's difficult to operate without infringing their rights, or at least they could accuse you of it? The one thing that you probably couldn't get away with, would be that you couldn't claim that you've never heard of Apple.

Your point about infringing - it's not so much the same class, but the same products and/or services as described in the trademark application. If it's not mentioned in the description of the products and/or services for the trademark when they registered it, then it isn't protected for those products and/or services.

However, this is further complicated, because if the trademark holder doesn't use the trademark for any of their stated products and/or services (there is usually a time period that is specified that you must use it by), then they haven't actually used the mark in trade, so they technically don't have a right to have the mark protected. If you believe this to be the case, a simple form and a few hundred dollars and you can get anyone's trademark registration either fully or partially revoked, because this will prompt the trademark office to get the trademark holder to prove that they have used the mark in trade. This could be by producing pictures of marketing material of the product itself with the trademark on it, sales information for the product/service within the time period, marketing website screenshots, advertising expenditure etc. If they don't use it, then others will be free to.

The use of the trademark is the key to protection, which extends into the point about being able to find it on Google. If it's being used then it should be easily provable as such.

in germany to my knowledge you have to use it at least within 5 years time

 

[atinc]

WIPO - The World Intellectual Property Organization

most useful one imo

 

[Domaining Ocean]

Hello friends,

I need some help. Can anyone tell me how can we check trademark of a domain name, brand name or app name.

Thank You !

You can use trademarkia.com tool