Trademark Basics
View the USPTO brochure Trademark Basics: Registration Toolkit.
- Trademark Basics Registration Toolkit18 page pdf document with all you need to know about filing and maintaining your trademark. Contains links to explanatory websites and documents (e.g., difference between a trademark and a trade name), forms, and modules 1-7 of the Trademark Boot Camp
Trademark Searching
- Trademark SearchSearch pending and registered marks. Replaced TESS, the Trademark Electronic Search System, in late 2023.
- Trademark Design Search Code ManualPer the USPTO Web site: "The USPTO assigns all marks containing design figurative elements a 6-digit numerical code(s) for searching purposes. This manual indexes the categories, divisions, and sections that make up these codes."
- Data Visualization CenterStatistics on activities associated with patents, trademarks, Office of Policy and International Affairs, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and statistics.
Trademark Application Process
- Trademark CenterApply to register your trademark and view your docket. Trademark Center is the only way you can apply to register your trademark.
- Trademark ID ManualInternational Classification of Goods & Services. The Manual also contains a listing of acceptable identifications of goods and services. Using language directly from the ID Manual helps avoid objections by examining attorneys
- Trademark Official Gazette (TMOG)Contains bibliographic information and a representative drawing for each mark published for opposition, along with a list of canceled and renewed registrations. Comes out every Tuesday.
Rules, manuals, guides and codes
- U.S. Trademark LawRules of Practice and Federal Statutes
- Trademark Manual of Examining ProcedureProvides trademark examining attorneys in the USPTO, applicants and attorneys with a reference on current law, practice and procedures for prosecuting mark applications.
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
- TTAB (Trademark Trial and Appeal Board)The Board's administrative trademark judges are authorized to determine a party’s right to register a trademark with the federal government
The TBMP provides stakeholders with basic information generally useful for litigating trial cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). The manual describes current practice and procedure under the applicable authority, including the Trademark Act, the Trademark Rules of Practice, the Federal Rules (where applicable), and precedential case law (as described on the USPTO Website).
Trademark Geographical Indicators
Geographical indications can be viewed as a subset of trademarks. Geographical indications serve the same functions as trademarks, because like trademarks they are:
1)Source-identifiers
2)Guarantees of quality
3)Valuable business interests