How to check if the company name is a registered trademark ?

[snuzzyki]

Hello guys, boys & girls

I would like to ask you if there is any good and reliable way to figure out if given company name is a trademark or not , to avoid potential troubles

I am only familiar with the site www.uspto.gov , however while typing there any name it's hard to figure out is it a trademark or not.

I would like to ask you , how do you determine that a name is worth registering and not getting yourself into troubles, generally also I believe that I've read somewhere that general phrase cannot be trademarked like Shoes, Cigarettes etc. but Apple qualifies for this rule and is still a trademark,

and one more question how about names like TopOffers BestDeals CheapCars can such names be trademarked ? That's just an example

 

[gilescoley]

If you click "Live" and type the word(s) in uspto.gov and it comes with something, then its trademarked, that is the TM database

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4801:89k56e.1.1

If its a company name, its best to just stay away from it. Shoes and Cigarettes are not a company name but Apple, Orange and Caterpillar are company names, even though they are common words as well. If you had something like SportShoes.com, you would more than likely be ok, but NikeShoes.com would not be ok for obvious reasons. Have a look at the legal section on here, a lot of really good info on there.

 

[Marc Riccio]

Small problem there at uspto. Did a search and it came up with 5416 hits......not in any alpha order and no way to put the names in any semblance of order.

M

 

[rafaelo0]

Trademark is a very sensitive topic in the domain space there are lots of variables that influence if your domain can be or will infringe in a trademark. From what i understand sometimes when a trademark is own by a company (giant) that heavily protect there trademark (have enormous amount of funds and lawyers) even if your domain has a small change of wining the case in court you will probably will lose, for example Apple they highly defend their brand and will probably lose against them even if you have a great case. This one of the biggest problem in domain names now a days almost every words are trademarked if you don't have a lawyer to discuss and recommend which domains to stay away you may run in to problems in the future especially for beginners and not every one has the funds to pay for lawyers fees.

I have a question about trademarks that maybe @gilescoley or other namepros members may answer, would really appreciate it.

Imagine you have a one word domain like for example gods.es or vila.es that is a generic word with meaning and also is a city in the country and there are 2 exact trademarks for the domain keyword, one trademark is for the shopping mall and the other for the city hall of the city.

There are enormous prospects with that keyword in different category's and they aren't trademark, i would be ok in registering this domain has long as i don't contact the company's that are trademark correct ??

or can i run in trouble in the future for just reg the domain and putting up for sale?

Thanks in advanced.