Trademark Selection: Legal analysis of a trademark begins before a trademark search even gets started. Not every name, slogan, logo or design (mark) can be used, registered or protected as a trademark. Before starting any trademark search, our trademark attorneys first evaluate the mark you selected to determine if it complies with the legal requirements for use and registration of a trademark. This helps eliminate dead-end searches.

If your mark is problematic or does not meet the minimum legal requirements, our attorneys provide you with advance warning, and make recommendations to help cure defects or avoid problems. This increases the chances of success, and helps avoid wasted costs and expenses of searching marks, which may not be capable of being successfully used, registered or protected.

If the mark you selected meets the minimum legal criteria for trademark use and/or registration, a trademark search is started. Once the search is completed and all data is compiled into a report, a trademark attorney analyzes the trademark search report.

The trademark search report and attorney analysis lead to a legal opinion of whether trademark registration and/or protection of your chosen mark should be pursued. It also helps determine the degree of anticipated difficulty and expense that may be involved in going forward with the trademark process. Typically, the greater the number of trademark conflicts ("hits") disclosed by the trademark search, the greater the degree of difficulty in registering and protecting a mark.

Answers to Your Questions