finding trademarks ???

[seeker]

I assume this is the correct section of the forum to ask these questions.

1) What is the quickest way to find if a name has a trademark?

2) where can one find If these TMs are worldwide?

3) If a company has a TM, and has a big product without one, does that auto carry over to its products as well?

4) If I have registered a domain, say 4 years ago, and a company just announces something that has the same name with mydomain.com/net/org (or whatever), do they still have a right over my domain?

5) last but not least, If a company trademarke a generic name such as (and I'll take this name as I saw it in a previous thread in the forum) VAIO, are people that own such a name in violation of a TM if they are indivuduals and they 4 letter word means something to them?
i.e. Very Alert In Operations

No, I dont own any VAIO names, just want an example.

Thanks!

[jberryhill]

"1) What is the quickest way to find if a name has a trademark?"

Google.

If you run a term otherwise capable of acquiring secondary meaning through Google, and you find that most of the references are to a particular good or service, then you have a good indication that the term may be a trademark.

[Garry Anderson]

Not even the corrupt god of trademarks, United Nations WIPO, will tell you if you are safe. They say:

"Note that not all intellectual property offices have publicly accessible on-line trademark databases and that any searches using the links provided on this site will not be sufficient to determine definitively whether or not the domain name is infringing."

http://ecommerce.wipo.int/databases/...ark/index.html

Check all these first - remember this doesn't guarantee that your domain will NOT be challenged. [sentence amended]

http://ecommerce.wipo.int/databases/...rk/output.html

Fact is - virtually every word is (or can be) registered as a trademark many times over by different type of business.

[seeker]

I see...
Thanks for the feedback.
I guess it's a matter of luck on the not so obvious names...

I suddenly have the 'feeling' that I might be needing a lawyer in the future...

[CoolDot]

Try the free search-service on
http://www.nameprotect.com/cgi-bin/F...rch/search.cgi