How to check trademark ?

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GetItNow

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Is there a way to check on trademark before the buyer buy the domain name? I thought there is a place to chech online for the company names .. ??
 
Hi GetItNow, Just to be clear, are you talking about an Indian domain? Also, you talk about checking "company names" - do you mean checking trademarks that have been filed by third parties?
 
(1) As mentioned here, you have to pay a fee to conduct a search of the Indian trademarks database (many countries provide this information for free). Update: see new post below for details of free but limited online search service.
Update #2: Service is no longer free.

What's still not clear is whether anyone can carry out an online search, and whether you need an Indian bank account to do this. Recently, I wrote to TMR India to see if they could answer some of my questions. Unfortunately, I did not receive a response. :(

(2) Another thing you can try and do is to find out if there are common law rights attached to the name. For example, conduct a search of India's yellow pages, news sites, local search engines etc to see how frequently the name comes up.

(3) Finally, using Google, try the tip below (to see if the name was advertised in India's trademarks journal):

site:www.patentoffice.nic.in/tmr_new/tm_journal/ [insert name]

For example, if you insert:
site:www.patentoffice.nic.in/tmr_new/tm_journal/ Apple Computer
you will see that Apple applied for the trademark .MAC

Another example, if you insert:
site:www.patentoffice.nic.in/tmr_new/tm_journal/ Google
you will see that Google Inc applied for the trademarks GOOGLE and ORKUT.

Very important: the search of the trademarks journal is NOT a conclusive test to find out if there is a registered trademark. It is simply one small thing you can do to obtain a bit of trademark information. For a conclusive answer, you need to perform a full search of the trademarks register as mentioned in my first paragraph.

Via the examples shown at (3) above, you *might* get the info you're looking for from a trademarks journal, but you might not. A pending trademark won't show up in your search results if it hasn't yet been advertised in the journal. Also, some journals won't show up in your results if they haven't been indexed by the search engines (certainly, the really old journals might not be indexed, and/or they might not even be in an electronic format).

GetItNow, if the domain in question involves a very high amount of money, then you should definitely conduct a full search of the trademarks register to ensure there is no trademark issue involved.

I apologise if the above is double dutch. If so, let me know and I will try and explain more clearly. ;)
 
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Very helpful thanks! I will sticky this thread.

I know that peoples' eyes probably glaze over when reading Ceres' post, but avoiding legal issues is good for your health and wealth :D
 
I know that peoples' eyes probably glaze over when reading Ceres' post, but avoiding legal issues is good for your health and wealth :D

Yes Jeff, I'm sure some peoples' eyes will glaze over my post, but nevertheless I decided to click on the "Submit Reply" button. :p
 
UPDATE: I found a site where you can conduct a free online search of India's trademark register. However, the free search only covers trademarks issued from 2006 onwards. You'll need to register with the website. .
UPDATE #2: this service is no longer free. You pay US$5 for 5 searches.

Please note: For a comprehensive search, you should order a search report from an Indian Trademark Attorney. You can order such a report for $10 or Rs.400 per mark per class via the tmpsearchers.com website. Also, I vaguely recall someone mentioning on INForum that Mitsu.in offers trademark services (but I don't know if they carry out trademark searches).

I tested out the free search and it works well. For example, I entered "Blackberry" and the results revealed the following trademarks:

BLACKBERRY UNITE! (2008-10-01)
Blackberry Pearl (2007-12-01)
RELIANCE BLACKBERRY (2007-03-01)
BlackBerry (2006-09-01)
Blackberry (2006-09-01)
BlackBerry (2006-09-01)
BLACKBERRY (2006-09-01)
BlackBerry (2006-09-01)
BLACKBERRY (2005-02-2 [note: a 2005 trademark showed up in the results]

I did another test search for "KFC" and it revealed the following trademarks:

KFC (2008-07-16)
KFC (2008-03-16)
KFC BEARING (2006-06-01)
KFC (2006-04-16)

If it's a design mark, you'll be able to view the image.
 
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On a similar subject ,could someone please tell me best way to register a simply WORD Only, 1 class trademark in India ?. I heard somewhere actual fee was $35 but I presume since I am in UK I need someone in India to register for me ?

Thanks for any info

DG
 
We are in the UK and are able to register trade marks anywhere in the world.

...... I have in the past registered trade marks for clients everywhere from Austria to Zambia, and as far away as Tuvalu and Kiribati.

Our website at VeryMark Trade Mark & Copyright Attorneys has our contact details and more info.

Yes but with respect you probably charge ,and excuse me here, the usual extortionate rates most lawyers/attorneys charge ?. I dont mean this rudely at all, im just poor and trying not to be poorer.lol. Must also say thanks for the Blog link on your website, very interesting cases in there. Ive got to say, domain owners should look more closely at obtaining trademarks for their best domains ,as protection from [fill in blank] .

DG
 
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Our services are not "cheap" but I am a qualified trade mark attorney with 40 years experience, we spend a large amount of time helping people with preliminary advice at no charge, our website has more free information on it than you'll find most anyplace else, and our fees are lower than most of our competitors.

The rest is up to you of course!
 
Our services are not "cheap" but I am a qualified trade mark attorney with 40 years experience, we spend a large amount of time helping people with preliminary advice at no charge, our website has more free information on it than you'll find most anyplace else, and our fees are lower than most of our competitors.

The rest is up to you of course!

Thanks and appreciated. My brothers a lawyer, so Im always very careful to qualify what I say . Im a kind of experienced LIP, but not very in TM law.

Yes will contact you if I may as have couple of things on the boil.

DG
 
I think Intellectual Property will be best option for searching any company name and logo. These organizations provide solution related to copyright, trademark, patent etc.
________
IPAD GUIDE
 
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