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Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

TM Clearance Search – { } Delimiter for Word Mark

Searching different vowel sounds using a { } delimiter and constant consonant sounds for a word

A search option is to use a delimiter {} to search specifically for vowels (or other designated characters) within a word.

In order to identify any registered marks or applications that may conflict with a word mark, a clearance search that can be done is searching different vowel sounds in the middle of a word while keeping the same consonant sounds of that word. This type of search would typically use the Basic Index [BI] trademark field code in the Free Form search mode of TESS. Also, instead of vowels, other characters can be specified in the search.

A word mark may conflict with a similar word mark because of the look or sound of that word mark. When a word mark is similar in appearance or sound to another, but spelled differently – a likelihood of confusion can exist. This is when a search would be done where the consonants are searched and the vowels are variable.

For example, “twer” will likely be considered similar to “twir”. By utilizing the pattern matching search method, a search can be designed to look for similarities of the same consonants (TWeR) and interchangeable vowels (twEr).

To perform this pattern matching search of “twer,” a search in the Free Form search of TESS, could be tw{V0:2}r[BI], which was used and yielded 33 records. These results returned with “TW” then a string of zero, one, or two vowels, then the “R.” The “V” represents the request for vowels, while the 0:2 represents the number of vowels of 0, 1 or 2, which may appear between “TW” and “R.”

Some examples of the results included:

TWOER

TWR

TWR LIGHTING

TWR WOMEN OF HOPE

TWIR

TWOOR HOW MIGHT WE

TWR EXPRESS

TWR LIVE BRINGING ANCIENT TEACHINGS TO LIFE

TESS provides a Class category to create a pattern matching search. The Class(es) can specify which of the searchable characters should or should not be included in the results. For this type of search, the braces {} are used to enclose the Class operator. The following class operators are available for searching:

CLASS - CLASS CONTENTS

Class A - The alphabet characters A through Z.
Class C - The consonants (the letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z).
Class D - The decimal digits 0 through 9.
Class E - The even digits 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8.
Class M - The mixed set of characters A through Z and digits 0 through 9.
Class O - The odd digits 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. (Use the letter O, not the digit 0.)
Class V - The vowels A, E, I, O, U, or Y.

The number of characters can be limited by repetition, a single number, or a range.

The repetition method is the class operator between commas, repeated the number to times for the number of characters of that class. For example, {V,V} identifies two vowels.

The single number method is the class operator followed by the number of characters of that class. For example, {V2} identifies two vowels

The range method is the class operator followed by the range of the number of characters of that class, where the range is defined by the lower number of the range then a colon and then the upper number of the range. For example, {V1:2} identifies one or two vowels.

The *, $, and ? truncation operators may be used outside the pattern delimiters.

Using the Free Form search in TESS, the search statement *tw{V1:3}r*[BI] searches the Basic Index for all examples where the letters TW are followed by one, two or three vowels before R.

The search *tw{V1:3}r*[BI] yielded 49381 records. Some findings included:

GYFTWEAR

TWOROMANTIC

BOTWORLD

PETWORKING

ATLANTIC STREETWEARMARKET

HAUPTWERK

TWARBGH

DOJONETWORKS

TWOER

OUTWARS

PROFITWORKS SOLUTION

OSEITWER

SPRINTWARD

and many other records containing the word SOFTWARE or NETWORK.

As evident in the examples above, as long as the pattern of TW, then one, two or three vowels, then the R appear in that order, the record was identified in this search.

An end truncation can be performed with a {} delimiter.

The search statement tw{V1:3}r{M0:2}[BI] searches the Basic Index for all examples where the letters TW are followed by one, two or three vowels before R. By adding the delimiter {M0:2}, to identify zero, one, or two mixed set of characters A through Z and digits 0 through 9, the findings were limited to those records that included character or number combinations after the pattern of TW, one, two or three vowels, then the R.

The search tw{V1:3}r{M0:2}[BI] in the Free Form search of TESS yielded 481 records. Some findings included:

TWOER

TWIRLGOLF

TWIRLYTIME

TWIRLY TOWEL

TWERLY GOLF

TWERK CANDLES

TIPSYTWERK

DONTWORRY 1

TABBY’S TWERK SEASONING

PEARLY TWIRLY

TWIRLY GIRL

TWERK USA

SHARE YOUR TWIRL WITH THE WORLD

TASTY TWIRLS

TWOEAR

TINY TWIRLS

By adding the delimiter as the end truncation, the number of records is smaller as the search limits the findings to only those marks that follow the pattern and have the indicated {M0:2} zero, one or two characters after the pattern. It should be noted that this delimiter is limited to a single word. If a mark is multi-worded like “Twirly Girl” or “Tabby’s Twerk Seasoning,” the delimiter is only identifying and limiting characters and numbers (up to three) of a single word, not any other separate words - before or after – the word that has the pattern.

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Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

TM Clearance Search – { } Delimiter for Word Mark

Searching different vowel sounds using a { } delimiter and constant consonant sounds for a word

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