COMMENTS ON TRADMARKING

More Trademark info can be found on  "http://www.uspto.gov"  the PTO  
website.  There are no on-line trademark search files anywhere on the free 
web that I know of.   The PTO has a CDROM set called "CASSIS" has a 
trademark volume with searchable files and a good search engine.  The 
Official Patent Depositary Libraries and many public libraries have CASSIS 
and the Trademark Gazettes.   


The PTO booklet "<Basic Facts about Registering a Trademark"  ($2.50) has 
adequate instructions and the application forms.   This booklet is 
available from my home page, on the PTO web site, the Gov Printing Office, 
PTO bulletin board,  and often free from your elected Representative.  

The downloadable booklet is missing 15 pages containing the application 
forms, instructions, examples.  

Observation:   The registration fee, about $350 for one catagory, is less 
than what most Attorneys charge to fill out the one page form.  And you 
still have to pay the PTO fees.  

A search is useful, but not required.   Contract directly with a searcher 
or do it yourself.  You certainly do not need the Attorney sur-charge for 
searching.   Of course, if the search costs nearly the Filing Fee, its  
value should be considered.   

There  is another thing about trademarks to be considered independently of 
registration with the PTO.  

You can be in business without registering your trade or service mark, and 
it will become your property (more or less) by usage.  Furthermore, You 
CANNOT complete registration of your trademark in the PTO until it has been 
used in INTERSTATE or INTERNATIONAL commerce.  It may be registerable in  
your State immediately.    Therefore, it is recommended practice to do a 
search before you begin to use it to see if it is likely to be available.   
Also, the PTO has a pre-registration service (same fee as registration) 
which will go through the publication and other operations, but the mark is 
not issued until you actually use  it in Interstate Commerce and pay an 
extra issue fee of about $100 for each catagory.  



note:  This document is in ASCII so it can be read directly without  HTML 
clutter.     Therefore, there are no included links.   Go back to  my home 
page for: 
     Fee Schedule 
     The PTO booklet described above.  
     Comments on Starting a Business 
     Trademark Goods and Services manual  (zipped form, must be sent to 
                                          disk)
    

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tradmark.txt