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All federal trademark registration applications show the process behind the trademark search the Trademark Examiner performed when approving or not approving the application.
The search which the Trademark Examiner performed is labeled as XSearch Search Summary under the documents section found in the TSDR file for the trademark registration application.
The XSearch Search Summary is found by:
1) searching for the mark on Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS); 2) when in the TESS file for the mark, click on the TSDR button to enter the Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) system; 3) in TSDR click on the tab Documents; and 4) within the Documents click on XSearch Search Summary.
The XSearch Search Summary shows the searches which the Trademark Examiner performed when determining if there was a conflict between the mark in the application and current applications or registered marks.
When looking at an example of a XSearch Search Summary you can go through the searches and see what searches were made. If there was a conflict found between the applied for mark and an existing application/registration that will be explained by an Office Action which is labeled as Offc Action Outgoing in the Documents section of the TSDR file for the mark.
Start with looking at an example of the sequential searches from a real set of Trademark Examiner sequential searches in a XSearch Search Summary, which is relevant to a hypothetical applicant.
For example, a hypothetical applicant may want to use the word ORANGE related to the mark for their new business venture. There are more nuances to a trademark clearance search, although looking at past XSearch Search Summaries will allow you to look at how a Trademark Examiner searched for and found a conflicting mark in the past.
So you go to: TESS, search ORANGE, get a list of hits, click on the TESS file, click on the TSDR file, click on the Documents tab, and click on the XSearch Search document and you obtain a document. The document has multiple columns. Relevant columns are: 1) the first column which gives the number of the search; and 2) the last column which gives the searches which were performed. There are other columns which give an idea of what documents/files which were viewed by the examiner (column 4).
For ORANGE, an example:
Headings for columns:
Search # - Total Marks - Dead Marks - Live Viewed Docs - Live Viewed Images - Status/Search Duration - Search
01 1 0 1 1 0:01 (removed by author of article)
02 68 36 32 30 0:01 (removed by author of article)
03 3505 N/A 0 0 0:02 *o{"r":2}{v}n{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
04 3496 N/A 0 0 0:01 *or{v}n{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
05 1475 N/A 0 0 0:01 *oran{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
06 1469 N/A 0 0 0:01 *orang*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
07 1413 N/A 0 0 0:02 *orange*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
08 1327 N/A 0 0 0:02 *orange[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
09 1312 N/A 0 0 0:02 orange[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
10 1814 N/A 0 0 0:02 3 and "036"[cc]
11 203 0 203 199 0:01 3 and ("036" a b 200)[ic]
12 821 N/A 0 0 0:01 3 and ("009" "035" "038" a b 200)[ic]
13 355 0 355 340 0:02 3 and ("009" "038" a b 200)[ic]
14 208 0 208 205 0:01 3 and ("037")[ic]
15 530 N/A 0 0 0:01 3 and ("035")[ic]
16 179 0 179 175 0:01 5 and ("035")[ic]
Logic behind the searches:
Further understanding the trademark searches on TESS is found on the Trademark Search Help page
You can look at other sequential searches for the same word, such as:
Another example 1:
01 2700 N/A 0 0 0:01 *or{v}n{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
02 2080 N/A 0 0 0:02 1 and ("009" "039" "001" "011" "016" "041" "042" "035" "045")[cc]
03 1363 N/A 0 0 0:01 1 and ("009" "039" "001" "011" "016" "041" "042" "035" "045" a b 200)[ic]
04 1762 N/A 0 0 0:01 1 and ("009" "039")[cc]
05 266 0 266 242 0:01 1 and ("009" "039" a b 200)[ic]
06 0 0 0 0 0:02 *or{v}n{"gj"}*[fm] not dead[ld]
07 1061 N/A 0 0 P/0:01 orange[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
08 525 N/A 0 0 P/0:01 7 and ("009" "039")[cc]
09 446 0 446 425 P/0:01 8 not 5
10 35 0 35 32 P/0:01 orange[fm] not dead[ld]
11 63 19 44 40 0:01 (removed by author of article)
Another example 2:
01 3443 N/A 0 0 0:02 *o{"r"1:2}{v1:2}{"n"1:2}{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
02 1425 0 254 242 0:02 o{"r"1:2}{v1:2}{"n"1:2}{"gj"}*[bi,ti] not dead[ld]
03 876 0 876 842 0:03 1 and (200 a b "009" "037" "038" "039" "042" "044")[ic]
04 0 0 0 0 0:01 o{"r"1:2}{v1:2}{"n"1:2}{"gj"}*[fm] not dead[ld]
05 35 0 35 32 0:02 orange[fm] not dead[ld]
Looking at the search sequence of the Trademark Examiner performed will show:
a) people new at legal research:
i) what a set of legal research looks like; and
ii) generally how a searcher isolates different areas of what to look at by changing terms for different fields; and
b) people more experienced at legal research:
i) examples of search terms so the searcher does not have to think of search terms themselves, if the searcher is doing a similar search; and
ii) different types of search terms or uses of logical operators the searcher has never used before.
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