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Do I need to conduct a trademark search before filing my application?

Photo of Jan Buza

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

Conducting a trademark search before applying for a trademark is not mandatory; however, it is strongly advisable.

A trademark search helps find all registered trademarks that would have the grounds to oppose your application. This includes identical as well as 'confusingly similar' marks. Since the issue of similarity is fairly complex (what makes two marks similar or dissimilar?) and more than 12 million new trademark applications are filed each year, even entrepreneurs with a good overview of their competition will likely not know about every trademark similar to theirs.

You can read more on the topic of trademark similarity in this article. If you'd like to uncover similar brands that could oppose your application, we offer trademark search free of charge.

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