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Lanham Act: Title 15 of the U.S. Code and
contains the federal statutes governing trademark law in the United
States . However, this act is not the exclusive law governing U.S.
trademark law, since both common law and state statutes also control
some aspects of trademark protection. |
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Likelihood of Confusion:
Statutory basis (Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. Section 1052(d),
TMEP §1207 et seq.) for refusing registration of a trademark or service
mark because it is likely to conflict with a mark or marks already
registered or pending before the USPTO. After an application is filed,
the assigned examining attorney will search the USPTO records to
determine if such a conflict exists between the mark in the application
and another mark that is registered or pending before the USPTO. The
USPTO will not conduct any preliminary searches for conflicting marks
before an applicant files an application and cannot provide legal advice
on whether a particular mark can be registered. The principal factors
considered by the examining attorney in determining whether there is a
likelihood of confusion are: (1) the similarity of the marks; and (2)
the commercial relationship between the goods and/or services listed in
the application. To find a conflict, the marks do not have to be
identical, and the goods and/or services do not have to be the same. It
may be enough that the marks are similar and the goods and/or services
related. If a conflict exists between your mark and a registered mark,
the examining attorney will refuse registration on the ground of
likelihood of confusion. If a conflict exists between your mark and a
mark in a pending application that was filed before your application,
the examining attorney will notify you of the potential conflict and
possibly suspend action on your application. If the earlier-filed
application registers, the Examining Attorney will refuse registration
of your mark on the ground of likelihood of confusion. |
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