Second article in a two-part series on trademarks
Posted on November 20, 2013

Trademark litigation can take a financial and emotional toll which may even force a small business to close. But following the simple steps outlined below can help protect your business and your brand from wasteful and unproductive litigation.

Risk avoidance for trademark liability begins at the time you select your business name. To ensure that your trade name does not infringe or dilute another trademark, you or your attorney should perform a thorough search of existing trademarks to verify that no one has claimed your name or a similar sounding name that might cause confusion.  Generally, you should conduct name searches of  the three following sources:

1.       the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's database of registered trademarks using its  search tool;

2.       popular search engines like Yahoo, Bing or Google; and

3.       a domain registry for trade name candidates in combination with popular used domains such as .com, .net and .travel. This type of search is also useful in determining whether the domain you want is available.

When you conduct your searches don't limit your results to the exact name. Expand the search by creatively brainstorming and looking up similar sounding names, misspelled versions of your name and synonyms. Keep documented records of your search results capturing screen shots of web searches to show that you made a good faith effort to avoid infringing another's mark in case a problem arises. If a conflict arises during your search or you think there is a possibility consumers will confuse your business with another travel agency, tour operator, supplier or  a nationally-known brand you should probably avoid selecting that name.  If uncertainty persists or if you are already using a mark that possibly infringes another, you may want to consider retaining a trademark attorney for professional advice.