Searching for Federal Trademarks

The United States Patent and Trademark Office offers TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System), a free trademark database available on the web.

What TESS includes: 

• Pending and registered U.S. federal trademarks
• "Dead" U.S. trademarks that have "died" (been abandoned) since 1/1/1984.  

What TESS does not include: 

• Common law, state, or foreign trademarks. The fact that a mark is not present in the TESS database does not necessarily mean that the mark is free and clear for use as a trademark. 

The date of last update for TESS is indicated on the search screens. It is strongly suggested that you read all help screens in TESS to learn about additional search techniques.

 Go to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site, Trademarks Page

1. Click on "Search Trademarks (TESS) in the top left column.

2. Click on the "New User Form Search"

3. In the Search Term box, type in the word or phrase that you are searching for.

4. Leave the other settings as they appear. When you first see the screen, the settings will be:
                       "Plural and Singular" 
                       "Both" (live and dead)
                       "Combined Word Mark" in Field 
                       "All Search Terms (AND)" in Results Must Contain 

5. Click Submit Query.  

• If you type in two words next to each other it will retrieve trademarks containing both of those words in any order and with other words also. If the Results Must Contain menu is changed to "The Exact Search Phrase" then only trademarks that contain both words, in the order specified, will be retrieved.
  
• Search for marks by allowing for variant spellings. Put an asterisk at the beginning and end of each word to allow for the most complete retrieval:  *kayak*
  
• Search multiple combinations of hyphenated or compound words.
  
  stop-n-go     stop n go
  stopngo        stop go
  
• Search other spellings of words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.
  
  Quick, qwik, quik, kwik, kwick qwick, etc.
  
• Search for synonyms of words:   Quick, fast, speedy, etc.
  
• See the TESS Help information

6. After submitting your query, a list of trademarks matching your search parameters will appear on the screen. Click on the Serial Number of each trademark to view detailed information.

7. When looking at the detailed information of a trademark (see below) pay special attention to the GOODS AND SERVICES field. Goods and Services describe how a trademark is used in commerce. See the Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual to determine the class numbers and descriptions.  

8. USPTO Design Search Code Manual: The design search code is a numerical classification index which codifies figurative elements and logos into categories. This allows you to determine a class number for the type of drawing or logo you wish to use in your trademark. Copy and paste the class number into one of the TESS Search Forms.  

Example: Enter 150501[DC] to retrieve records for trademarks incorporating typewriters in the design. 

9. Still didn't find anything similar? Check our Frequently Asked Questions about Trademarks page, which includes information about searching for features of a logo. See also the FAQ Page of the U.S. Trademark Office.

For more information, contact: 
Martin Wallace
Science and Engineering Center
Patent and Trademark Depository
Raymond H. Fogler Library
Orono, Maine 04469-5729 
Phone: 207-581-1678

Last Updated by:  Martin Wallace: 04/28/2009 .