How to Search the Trademark Office

The USPTO's TESS system allows you to search for similar trademarks before submitting your own.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reviews trademark applications and issues trademark protection. A trademark cannot be registered if an identical or substantially similar mark already has been registered. The USPTO provides an online database of registered marks in its Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), as well as offline search resources at its Public Search Library in Alexandria, Virginia, and at Patent and Trademark Depository libraries throughout the United States.

Instructions

Searching for registered trademarks online

1. Visit the USPTO website, www.uspto.gov. Under the "trademarks" heading, select option 2, "search marks." This link will take you to the main page of the TESS. For detailed help using TESS, click the blue "help" box at the top left-hand corner of the TESS main page, and/or the TESS TIPS link in the center of the main page.

2. Choose the search form you want to use. The USPTO recommends either the "new user form search" or the "structured form search" for first-time TESS users. The "structured form search" uses Boolean operators. You also may use the "free form search," browse the trademark dictionary or search by a trademark's publication or registration date. TESS allows you to toggle among these five search options during your search.

3. Enter your search term in the appropriate field. The new user form search and the structured form search will search among word marks only. For both words and images, use the free form search and use the category symbols at the bottom of the screen to narrow your search. If you are searching in the new user form, choose "plural and singular" and "live and dead" to return the widest field of possible matches. Click "submit query" to search the database.

4. Review your search results carefully. If they do not appear to match your search, you may want to try a new search, either by using another form or by altering your search terms.

Tips & Warnings

• You can narrow your search further by using the USPTO Design Code Manual. The manual is available on the USPTO website.

• A TESS search that does not turn up any identical or confusingly similar marks does not mean your mark will automatically be approved by the USPTO. Your mark may be turned down if a USPTO examiner finds a similar mark your search missed or for reasons unrelated to your mark's similarity to another mark.

References

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Where Do I Start?
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: TESS Tips

Resources

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries By State