Kalispell Trademark Attorneys & Lawyers

What Is a Patent Search?

Patent search tools help you conduct a patent search. Conducting a patent search helps ensure your invention hasn't already been patented by someone else. You can also get insight about what your competitors are developing.

Most commonly, an inventor conducts a patent search to find out if someone has already patented their invention. This involves sorting through existing patents, patent applications, and information about unpatented inventions. All of these preexisting inventions are called prior art.

Why Is a Patent Search Important?

A patent search tells you if pursuing a patent on your invention is worth it. If your search reveals a nearly identical invention has already been patented, your invention won't satisfy the novelty requirement for patentability. That means it isn't new or unique enough

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What Does a Trademark Protect?

A trademark protects a good or service offered by a company from infringement or damage of reputation by another company. With a trademark, you have legal recourse to sue another company that uses your likeness to further their own business ventures. This includes both registered and unregistered trademarks.

In short, a trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination that helps consumers identify a particular product. A service mark is the same, but pertains to a service instead fo goods. Both marks are protected once they are used. This includes both registered and unregistered trademarks.

In 1995, the landmark case of Qualitex Co. v. Jacobsen Products Co. affirmed that trade

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Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual: What Is It?

The Acceptable Identification of Goods and Service Manual is the guide put out by the United States Patent and Trademark Office or USPTO that describes the appropriate terms to use when describing goods and services on a trademark application that is filed with the USPTO.

Acceptable identification of goods and services is part of the trademark application process through the USPTO. The section requires the applicant to describe any goods and services that are being registered with clear or concise language.

Though the list given in the Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual isn't exhaustive, it is more extensive than the alphabetical list that's given under the Nice Classification.

The Acceptable Identification of Goods and Service Manual is intended to be a guide in preparing trademark applications.

Why Is Acceptable Identification of Good

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What is Keyword Advertising Trademark Infringement?

Keyword advertising trademark infringement occurs when online search engine companies sell trademarked words and phrases to competitors of the trademark owner. Keyword advertising trademark infringement is a relatively new concept since search engines have become more widely used in the last decade.

Trademark owners are unhappy with this practice because they believe it leads to confusion among consumers. When consumers search for keywords that fall under the trademark, they see those exact words on websites that don't relate to the actual product or brand. This also increases the time it takes to find the right product or service from the company that holds the trademark.

Infringement only occurs when the searc

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