Monday, October 26, 2009

Live Search

I'm working on registering a trademark for my client. I spent some time on the PTO website (where federal marks are registered) searching their database. It's not flashy, but it has several levels of advancing search capabilities, such as boolean, different fields, etc.

Then I went on the California Secretary of State website to search whether my client's name was registered in California. I spent some time there too, hunting for the database. Finally I called the phone number and navigated a few levels of menu items (press 4 > 4 > 0), wanting to ask where to find the database search on their website. A woman answered on the first ring, and politely asked me what trademark I wanted. I told her, I held for about 30 seconds, and she told me it wasn't registered.

There is no online database; that's how you search for a mark! I couldn't decide if I was horrified or charmed...

1 comment:

MLamp said...

horrified. definitely horrified. :) Keep up the good work !!