Essential links

Not long ago, a business was judged by the strength of one’s Rolodex® entries. Twenty-first century business thrives on having the right online connections at LinkedIn®, Facebook® and other key sites.

A critical aspect of practicing trademark and copyright law is reviewing the facts in the context of the law.  The Internet provides access to select facts in an amazing way. Consider The WAYBACK MACHINE at www.archive.org. A virtual treasure trove, “the Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a service that allows people to visit archived versions of Web sites. Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web.”  This site can be extremely useful when evaluating who was the first party to use a certain mark.

More generally, Internet resources extend a professional practitioner’s capabilities. So in the World Wide Web spirit of sharing information, here are some key online intellectual property resources that we rely on at Evoke Law.

 

Trademark

  • U.S. Trademark Office, official United States trademark headquarters
  • TESS Trademark Electronic Search System  Search for issued registrations and pending applications
  • ID Manual Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual
  • TEAS Trademark Electronic Application System, the Web resource to apply for a U.S. trademark
  • TMEP Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure
  • TTAB Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
  • TBMP Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure
  • Law The Lanham Act, CFR regulations, and other rules
  • Directory of Intellectual Property Offices around the world
  • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Home of the Madrid System and other treaties and conventions.
  • INTA International Trademark Association, an organization of trademark holders and attorneys
  • TTABlog Best trademark blog for legal practitioners
  • Timeline: USPTO process diagram of a trademark application based on the mark’s use in commerce
  • Trademark Usage Guidelines Information on the correct way to use and notify of a mark
  • Rebecca Tushnet’s blog on false advertising and more

Focus on Clearance Resources

  • Corsearch  The premier clearance and protection site to effectively manage trademark screening and conduct comprehensive searches to assess availability, registerability and enforceability.
  • Social Media Clearance Check popular social networking and bookmarking sites here.
  • The Wayback Machine of Web pages archived by date.
  • WHOIS, the essential lookup of owner and contact information of any registered domain.
  • Urban Dictionary calls itself  “A veritable cornucopia of streetwise lingo, posted and defined by its readers

 Domain Names and the Internet

  • UDRP The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy requires that most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by either agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name.
  • Case decisions and more information on the UDRP process
  • NameDroppers Domain name availability based on keywords.
  • Domainssbot turns names and words into a variety of possible domains and informs you which are available and which in use

 Focus on New Top Level Domains

  • ICANN Developments in the launch of new top-level domain names, a program to increase competition and choice in the domain name space. There are now roughly two dozen gTLDs now (.com, .org, .net, etc.). Soon there will be hundreds, then thousands.
  • Official list of delegated names (Best unofficial list)
  • Trademark ClearingHouse URS Uniform Rapid Suspension procedure — NEW, hopefully fast and cheap, procedure to suspend an applied-for domain name
  • PPDRP Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure – NEW, procedure to challenge a registry
  • Best resource on new gTLDs
  • Excellent overview introducing the new Internet domains This site is amazing!
  • thedomains.com  News on the politics and issues connected to new domain names
  • CircleID  (sponsored by Minds+Machines)
  • Evaluating New Top-Level Domains: Opportunity or Threat?
  • White paper by MarkMonitor

Large GTLD applicants

Copyright

 Patent