What is a Trademark Search?

A trademark search can, in actuality, be many different things. In theory, a trademark search is performed to determine whether or not the mark you are hoping to use is already taken by another. This allows an individual to apply with a greater level of confidence for the use of a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (herein referred to as the USPTO). A trademark search is, ideally, a comprehensive, analytical way of researching a name, slogan or logo for prior use.

A trademark search can also be performed in a sloppy and ineffective manner, and may not protect you from potentially infringing upon another?s name or logo. This is why it?s important to ensure that the trademark research you have commissioned is done comprehensively and thoroughly!

It is not unusual for a trademark research company to charge hundreds of dollars for searching the USPTO, which you can do for free. Comprehensive research firms search Federal, State and Common Law records, which is a more logical and thorough way to research your name. When commissioning research on your name, it is important to ask the company you?re considering using to clarify what exactly their searches entail, each step of the way.

Companies may try and save money in other ways, including letting you pour through the raw data they collect without any summary of what it all means. It is important to be sure once you?ve decided to commission research on your name that the information is compiled into an easily readable report. Examining the results of your research can sometimes be difficult, even when placed in an edited report. If you?re left to decipher the meaning of a company?s raw data, chances are you may under react or overreact to the results.

When searching your name, it is important that phonetic spellings of the name are searched, as well as vowel variations. This should be done in order to find any potential matches of your name, whether these matches are similar or identical. Ultimately, the goal of the search is to allow an individual to apply for the searched name feeling as though they are informed, and free of any potential legal ramifications. Unless your search is comprehensive, there is no way to promise the same peace of mind a thorough search can!

Applying for a trademark does not have to be a painful, convoluted process. It can actually be quite easy if you follow the correct steps throughout! Remember, it is a process to research a name.

Marit Lee is a Researcher for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at TradeMark Express or call Marit directly at 800.550.1520.

Inventions, Patents and Profit

New Inventors

My name is Clyde Knight Jr founder of Knite Enterprises LLC. I have visited many newsletters and inventor resource websites where I found and read many interesting and informative articles. These web sites covered areas of inventing dealing with everything from creating and developing your ideas to selecting the right self-help resources.

There is a plethora of invention submission and promotion type corporations out there, as we have seen advertised on television and radio commercials. I have even experienced first hand how these companys work. They advertise one thing, but the result is a twist in legal technicalities that most inventors under estimate. In short, these invention submission corporations present the unwary, sometimes enthusiastic and often times legally nave inventor with a professionally looking office, with personable representatives and artistically enhanced forms and documents all pleasing to the eye and designed to persuade the inventor to sign away their legal rights.

Furthermore, self-help websites including the USPTO website do offer free and inexpensive resources. These resources usually explain details of the law that allows independent inventors to protect their own inventions by submitting their own ideas to the USPTO or applying for a patent themselves. Other methods of self-protection offered on these websites include retaining a combination of inventing professional to help them to submit their own patent application with out having to pay an attorneys high legal fees. Thus, saving them a costly expense.

In either of the cases sighted above what usually happens in the end is that the inventor is disillusioned, discouraged and frustrated. The inventor is discouraged by the bureaucratic red tape, precise and strictly adhered to submission protocols of the USPTO with associated astronomical expense on the one hand or legally frustrated by the immoral but legal bate and switch tactic of an unscrupulous submission promotion company on the other.

To see how these companies use the law to their advantage point your browser at http://www.ftc.gov/foia/frequentrequest.htm. There you will find which submission promotion companies are listed. In addition, the type of fraud they used on various inventors.

Many invention resource websites fail to explain that your invention may not be feasible, plausible or even marketable and that to pay for a patent application when your idea will not bring a profit may be an expense that you simply cannot afford. Additionally, they usually do not explain in a logical and clear manner the facts needed for the inventor to make an informed decision. They do not explain the facts gleaned from an objective and complete explanation of the cost and profit probability ratios - that is - the money that you spend to patent your idea vs. the probability of making a profit from your patent.

I have researched and have pain stakingly explained to the average inventor how to use the law to protect their invention with out having to disclose to a third party where their invention in all probability is most likely to be stolen. I also explain the myths, cost and profit probability ratios of spending $3,500 - $10,000 or more, when such an expense may not be in their best interest.

Our service is tailored for people who do not have or cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on a patent. I explain that to spend this kind of money does not necessarily give the protection desired and that it does not guarantee profit. At Knite Enterprises, we take the inventors creativity and their right to claim it very seriously. We assist the inventing industry by taking the confusion out of the notion of claiming your invention and by making our services available to those of us who may have creative talent but are confused and discouraged from moving forward by financial constraints and responsibilities. To see what we are all about please visit us on line at: http://www.DIYinventor.com

Clyde Knight Jr is the founder of Knite Enterprises LLC. He started this online business in 1998. Knite Enterprises LLC recognizes the many problems that new inventors face when deciding on how to protect their ideas. Knite Enterprises LLC answers many of these questions and explains the advantages and disadvantages of traditional IP Protection.

Clickbank Vendors: Two Simple Ways You Can Help Affiliates Protect Their Sales.John Hocking

1) How To Remove Your Affiliates Clickbank Id From The URL.

As a merchant, you can hide the clickbank affiliate id for your affiliates by creating a redirect page and pointing your default hoplink to the redirect.

When some uses your hoplink http://hop.clickbank.net/?affid/yourid, the cookie will be set and they will land on your redirect page.

The redirect will send them to your domain without adding the ?hop= information. The cookie is already set and does not need to be shown.

This will help protect your affiliates commission and give your site a more professional appearance.

In the code examples below, you will need to replace [ and ] with less then and greater then symbols.

Create a file called hoplink.php

Add the following code

[?php
header("Location: http://www.yourdomain.com"); exit;
?]

Upload hoplink.php to the root of your domain.

Login into your clickbank account. Click to view or modify your account settings. Click to modify your account.

Under Business Info, change the url of your website to be http://www.yourdomain.com/hoplink.php

Click on save changes.

Now when a visitor clicks on a hoplink, it appears that they came directly to your site and the affiliate's id is no longer exposed. For this technique to be completely effective, the affiliate needs to cloak the hoplink as well.

2) How to Cloak Your Clickbank Vendor Id Using PHP

Most clickbank affiliate theft is caused by the fact that is easy to rebuild a hoplink and get credit for your own purchase. All you really need to know is the vendor id.

All you have to do is look at the source code of a typical sales link and you will see the vendor id.

For example:
http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?YourVendorId/1/Product_Description

To rebuild the hoplink you simply use http://hop.clickbank.net/?AffiliatesId/YourVendorId

Now when you click on the hoplink and the original affiliate has lost a sale.

As you can see, without knowing the vendor id, you can not successfully rebuild the hoplink and the affiliates sale would be protected.

Below is an example of how to do this in PHP.

You will need to replace [ and ] with less then and greater then symbols.

Create a file called order.php

Add the following code

[?php

header("Location: http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?YourVendorId/1/Product_Description");

exit;
?]

Just replace YourVendorID with your Clickbank ID Replace 1 with your product number Replace Product_Description with your Product Description

Upload order.php into the same folder as your sales page.

Now link to order.php instead of using the raw order link and your Vendor ID is never exposed

This will make it very hard for affiliates to rob other affiliates of their commissions.

I encourage you to make these simple changes to protect the commissions of your affiliates.

John Hocking created http://www.guidetoebookmarketing.com, A resource site for those looking for information on creating and marketing ebooks. You will find hundreds of articles, ebook reviews and resource links.

Overview of Trademark Law

Trademark law gives companies the exclusive right to use a given name or design, called a ?mark,? for the purpose of identifying the source the of that company?s goods or services. Trademark law is an incentive-based system. Because it gives companies the exclusive right to use a mark in connection with certain goods or services, the company can create a brand that is recognizable by the consuming public. That trademark would be associated with and incorporated into every advertisement the company runs for its goods or services. Repetition of those advertisements containing the trademark causes consumers to associate the mark with the goods and, with enough repetition, consumers buy the goods.

A brief, but related, digression. We all know that if you see a product advertised frequently enough, the product will sell. You might even be one of the people who buys the product. The thinking process by which you reached the decision to buy the product is not an intellectual, logical process. It?s a function of the way the human mind works. Continually hearing a repeated message makes the message more familiar, more real, and, eventually, more true. As the adage says, ?even the boldest lie becomes the truth if you scream it loud enough and long enough.? I call this the ?Lie = Truth? Adage. Sadly, I frequently encounter the ?Lie = Truth? Adage in litigation. I also know of some politicians and terrorist masterminds who are experts at exploiting this fact of human nature.

Back to trademarks. The advertising departments at most companies know the ?Lie = Truth? Adage can be very successful in advertising. The cynic would pump his fist in the air yell ?Down with the corporations, and power to the people! All the corporations care about is taking our money at all costs!? While we can point to some recent examples that might make it challenging to argue against this viewpoint, as to the overwhelming, vast majority of companies, that view simply cannot be supported.

Trademark law creates very strong incentives for companies to make the highest quality product possible and to advertise their merits and attributes accurately. Aside from the fact that companies invest anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars into their trademark(s), all it takes is one bad product line to tarnish a companies image in the mind of the consumers who buy their products. Both of these factors hit companies where it hurts them most: in the pocketbook. So, while companies clearly have to perform a balancing act of creating a high quality product, keeping costs down, and pulling in as many purchasers as possible, they have very strong incentives to create a quality product that they will associate with their trademark.

To be eligible for any level of trademark protection, a mark must be ?distinctive? and not merely ?descriptive? of the goods or services. Whether a mark is distinctive and ?how? distinctive or strong the mark is can be determined by a sliding scale. Marks can be (1) fanciful; (2) arbitrary; (3) suggestive; (4) descriptive; or (5) generic. Whether a particular mark is protected by trademark law depends on the strength category into which it falls.

A fanciful mark is one that is invented for the sole purpose of being a trademark. For example, EXXON is a fanciful mark. It is a word that does not exist in the English language and was created only for the purpose of identifying the oil and gas company.

An arbitrary mark is typically an existing word that is arbitrarily applied to a product or service that has nothing to do with the word. For example, the mark APPLE as applied to sales of computers.

A suggestive mark is a mark that suggests a quality or characteristic of the goods or services. Suggestive marks require some level of imagination to bridge the connection between the mark and the product. For example, the mark PENGUIN as applied to refrigerators.

A descriptive mark is a word that merely describes a quality or characteristic of a product. Descriptive marks are not entitled to trademark protection unless they have obtained ?secondary meaning? under the trademark law. An example of a descriptive mark would be LIGHT to identify a lightweight notebook computer.

A generic mark simply identifies by name a particular product. Generic marks are never entitled to trademark protection. An example of a descriptive mark would be MODEM in connection with modem sales. If trademark protection were allowed in this instance, the company could essentially remove the word ?modem? from the English language.

Henry J. Fasthoff, IV
Principal & General Counsel
HoustonBusiness.com