A trademark clearance search isn’t just “seeing if the domain is available” or typing a name into Google. A thorough clearance search involves using artificial intelligence AND manual searching, and it involves at the very least:
- Searching the federal USPTO database,
- Checking for common law use (businesses using a name but without a state or federal trademark registration), and
- Analyzing the results for “likelihood of confusion” based on how the courts and the USPTO actually apply the law.
Why do manual trademark searching when we have AI?
As many people are finding out the hard way, AI isn’t perfect. It’s great for speeding up some tasks, but it often produces a good deal of useless results along with the useful ones. More importantly, it doesn’t always catch everything. Sometimes when I’m doing my manual search I find things the AI search missed. To be fair, sometimes it finds things I didn’t find. That’s why it’s great to do both.
Doing a good manual trademark search isn’t simple.
You can’t just enter the name into the USPTO database and press “search” and expect to get thorough results. You have to know how to use many of the advanced search fields and wildcards to run multiple searches to find the marks that are similar but not identical to yours. You need to know how to do that in Google search state records, too.
If you’re launching, growing, or just unsure whether your business/brand name or your logo are truly protected, let’s talk. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about names and logos.
If you’d like to consult with me, you can use my contact form or book a consultation online at kingpatentlaw.com or by calling my office at 312-596-2222 or 217-714-8558.
Please check out the other posts and pages on my website for more information on trademarks and other intellectual property and business law issues.
