Why would an Internet marketer want to know how to conduct a trademark search?
1) So that Internet marketer does not register a domain name featuring someone else’s trademark, which domain may later be usurped by the trademark owner. ( A trademark owners will have substantive rights over a domain name owner in a domain name, which is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark owner’s trademark.)
2) So that Internet marketer does not insert someone else’s trademarks within the Internet marketer’s meta tags, thereby exposing the Internet marketer to a possible law suit. (The general rule seems to be that if you use another company’s trademark within your meta tags for any deceptive purpose you most likely will lose the suit, however if you have some legitimate reason to use the trademark it most likely will be considered fair use and therefore permissible.)
How to conduct a trademark search?
Here is what most lawyers would do:
A. The lawyer will ask the client: 1) what is the potential trademark that I am searching for? And 2) with what type of goods or services will you use the trademark?
B. The lawyer will then conduct what is termed a “knockout search” – a search of federally registered trademarks. The lawyer will probably conduct this search via the PTO’s (patent and trademark office) Web based search service. Most lawyers will also search popular search engines to see if other websites reference the proposed trademark. It is also wise to conduct a search for other domain names which might be utilizing the trademark. I would recommend using Allwhois.com because it can search WHO IS databases for multiple domain registrars.
C. If the knockout search does not turn up any identical matches, thereby failing to knock out the proposed trademark from contention, the attorney will most likely conduct a more thorough search by enlisting an outside trademark search service to conduct a more full search. Thomson & Thomson is a popular choice. This is also a fairly expensive service.
This process will give you a good idea as to whether there will be a potential trademark conflict.