This document describes CheckMark, a tool that aims to make the trademark clearance process more efficient. It summarizes that trademarks are important business assets, but determining whether a mark can be used requires searching the difficult to use USPTO website. CheckMark allows users to leverage USPTO information to save time and make better trademark clearance decisions. It provides automatic alerts and has the potential to offer advanced search capabilities and related class suggestions to help beyond just clearance.

1. CheckMark
Making trademark clearance more efficient
Ami Bhatt & Arun Nagarajan
checkmarkapp.herokuapp.com

2. Trademarks: Background
Trademarks are valuable assets of every
business.
Selecting and registering trademarks and
important process in protecting this asset
Cornerstone to this process is the USPTO site.

3. Importance of Trademark Clearance
To determine whether the mark can be used
and registered, conduct trademark clearance
● Avoid refusal by PTO for likelihood of confusion with an existing trademark
● Avoid suit for infringement of an existing trademark
● Allows for selection of a strong mark
● Reduces risk of having to rebrand or destroying infringing merchandise
after the launch of a product or campaign
● Ability to enforce trademark against others

4. Broadly, a Two-Step Process
1. “Knock-Out” Search 2. “Full” Search

5. Searching on USPTO Site: TESS

6. Basic Search - The Name Says It All

7. Structured Search - Limited Criteria

8. Free Form Search - Mastery of Codes

9. Constructing Free Form Searches

10. Result of Records

11. Individually Review Each Result

12. And PTO Website Has More Info!
TSDR contains information relevant for
clearance, but not available through
TESS records results page, including:
● Goods or Services
● Date of Registration
● Design Elements
● Owner
● “Live” or “Dead”
● Prosecution History of the Mark

13. Time and Hassle!
Beware the time-out

14. What Does This Mean?
Trademark Office website
has relevant information,
but is not easy to obtain
and view.
Leads to inefficient,
uninformed, incorrect
decision-making.

15. Solution: CheckMark
CheckMark allows a user to leverage
information available on the Trademark Office
Site to save time and make better decisions.

16. Demo

17. Automatic Alerts

18. Beyond Delivering Key Information
Build product’s capabilities to include:
● Smarter Searching:
○ Advanced searching and refine results by TSDR criteria
○ Add way to search by design elements
○ Phonetic searching capabilities
○ Provide “similarity” index
○ Suggested related classes of goods and services
● Go beyond trademark clearance:
○ Use in registration and prosecution of marks
○ Brand and Mark protection through automatic alerts

19. Example - Related Classes
Identify that the relevant service is beer. CheckMark would
note relevant goods & services in classes 032, 033, 040, 043.

20. Thank you!
Questions?
Ami Bhatt, Arun Nagarajan
Attorney, Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. Lead Technologist, Stealth

24. Checkmark: Sample Result

25. Checkmark: Link to TSDR Info