Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright

What is a trademark or service mark?

• A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. [For more information see: Trademark from Cornell University Law School.]

• A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms "trademark" and "mark" refer to both trademarks and service marks.

Usually a mark for goods appears on the product or its packaging, while a service mark appears in advertising for the services.

A trademark is different from a patent or copyright. A patent protects an invention. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. 

Federal trademarks, issued by the USPTO, are valid in all 50 states. In addition, each state issues its own trademarks.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides extensive trademark information: Trademark Basics

Important Databases - United States Patent and Trademark Office 

• USPTO Design Search Code Manual - if your mark includes a design element (i.e. logo), you will need to search it by using a design code

• Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) - This search engine allows you to search the USPTO's database of registered trademarks and prior pending applications to find marks that may prevent registration due to a likelihood of confusion refusal.  Includes records back to 1984.

• TEAS - the Trademark Electronic Application System - for online filing.

• TSDR - Trademark Status & Document Retrieval - allows you to see the filings of others.

Trademark Searching

• Conducting a Trademark Search - advice from staff at the USPTO

State Trademark Information

• Texas Trademarks -  The Texas Secretary of State’s web site offers Texas trademark forms and a searchable database of Texas trademarks.  There is a charge for searching the database.  

• State Trademark Information Links - find information on trademarks specific to all 50 states and D.C.

More Information, including World-Wide Searching

• Registering a Trademark - guidance from Findlaw.com

• Global Brand Database - from the World Intellectual Property Organization: "your gateway to more than 46,280,000 records from some 55 national and international collections."

• DESIGNview - Search designs registered across the European Union.

• TMview - Search trademarks registered across the European Union.

For Historical Investigation

• ​RUSS OCR Trademark Searches - Searchable trademark certificates from 1870 to 2010.

• Trademark Indexes - a collected set of indexes to U.S. trademark records.  From the Hathi Trust.

• Index of Trademarks issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office - Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of Michigan.

• Historic "dead" trademark information may be requested from staff of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Resource Center Program (PTRCP).  They refer to microfilm held at the Patent Office.  Please make requests through a PTRCP library.

• Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year ... / U.S. Patent Office - from the Hathi Trust collection. (Trademarks listed, beginning in 1870.)

-Missing 1872 - 1875.

• Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year / United States Patent Office. 1865 - 1919 (with trademarks listed beginning in 1870).  From the Smithsonian Library.

• RUSS's Guide to the Gazettes at Hathi Trust - use this to help make sense of these next two entries.

Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office - In this period, trademark records were in the same volumes with patent records - these volumes are thanks to the Hathi Trust.

Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. Trademarks. and  Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademarks.  Later, trademark records were published in a separate series from patent records.  Again, these volumes are thanks to the Hathi Trust.

Business names and product names have much in common, however when it comes to trademarks there are some differences. First and most importantly, product names can always be trademarked if the name does not infringe another name.

For more information on how similar a name can be: Likelihood of Confusion.

Business names can be trademarked if the business provides a service, such as marketing, legal, accounting, etc. Business names, such as Ford Motor Company, Apple Computer, Advanced Micro Devices may be trademarked, but only if there are goods or services with that name.

• Ford is a registered trademark because it is the name of a company and a specific automobile.
• Google is both a company name and a service.

The following business directories are a good place to check for names that are already in use, thereby avoiding infringement.

You might also try:

• Local county clerk's office for DBA (doing business as) filings.
• Office of the Texas Secretary of State and SOSDirect for
  • Companies incorporated in Texas.
  • Limited partnerships filed in Texas.
  • Texas Trademarks.