As entrepreneurs, we express our ideas in our work, and sometimes our most creative expressions are poured into our branding. We spend a considerable amount of time deciding on the name, look and impression of our brands because they are our babies! They are the representations of the creative ideas and expressions that we birth into the world, no matter the field of business. You know why? Because it’s YOUR business and YOU’RE running it YOUR way with YOUR personal touch and awesome branding! Essentially, we’re artists… and we’re sensitive about our… stuff.

But, sometimes unfortunately, great minds do think alike. And someone probably had that same great idea and expressed it before you did… Lord forbid! A problem such as this can dilute your creative expression. And this is not how you want your baby presented to the world.

Unless you do a comprehensive clearance search of your name, logo and tagline, you won’t even know that this problem exists. When you do decide to file your trademark application to secure your claim on your creation, you just might get hit with a likelihood of confusion office action from the USPTO.

A comprehensive clearance search is one of the most crucial steps when filing for a trademark. However, it should be one of the first steps when choosing a distinctive mark for your brand. Some entrepreneurs miss this very important step and it could cause them to lose the branding they’ve worked so hard to build.

The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish your products or services from others and to avoid confusion among consumers. A comprehensive clearance search will let you know if the mark you’ve chosen for your brand satisfies these requirements. Additionally, the clearance search will help to make sure you are not infringing on another person’s trademark rights.

It is important that you take this step to ensure your brand stands out from the rest and that customers are sure of the products or services they are receiving.

Also, nobody likes USPTO office actions. They slow down the process of protecting your brand. And the USPTO WILL reject your application if a likelihood of confusion is at all possible. The best way to avoid this is by conducting a comprehensive search to see if anyone else is using a similar mark to identify their brand.

A comprehensive search would include reviewing federal and state level trademark registrations, government databases, internet searches, social media sites, etc. This type of search helps to uncover marks that may not be registered but still have valid common law protection rights.

Although the comprehensive search may not uncover all possible conflicting marks, it gives you a far better chance of protecting your brand in a quick and seamless manner.

HOWEVER, you can simply take the hands-off approach and let us help you. Because we understand how important this step is, New Millennia Legal Resources offers a comprehensive clearance search with our full-service trademark package. That’s right… You DO NOT have to pay for this service separately!

In addition to the comprehensive clearance search, we also include a detailed report and explanation, trademark registration, a timely procedural response to an issued office action, one full year of trademark monitoring with weekly updates, and one-month FREE access to our New Millennia Legal Resources membership.

Remember, it is our primary mission to make sure that you are fully protected along this journey. We are always here to help!