Trademark Blog

What is the “TM” Trademark Symbol and When May I Use It?

trademark symbol

You’ve likely seen the “TM” trademark symbol used in combination with various trademarks. The “TM” trademark symbol is widely utilized by individuals, businesses, and organizations to alert the public of their claim of ownership in a particular mark. Of course, using a “TM” doesn’t necessarily mean that the user of the mark actually owns any common law trademark rights or federal trademark rights whatsoever. For example, if I was to start selling soda under the name “COCA-COLA^™,” I’d be a dirty little infringer since I clearly cannot obtain any trademark rights in the famous COCA-COLA name.

Once a trademark is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the owner of the trademark may use the “®” registered trademark symbol in place of the “TM” in order to provide notice to the world that the trademark is federally registered.

Trademarkia Search – An Experiment Showing the Inadequacy of Trademarkia

Before adopting, using, and applying to register your trademark, it’s good practice to perform a comprehensive federal trademark search in order to help minimize the risk of being sued for trademark infringement by someone who owns prior rights in an identical or confusingly similar trademark. Furthermore, a federal trademark search will assist you in determining whether the name, slogan, or tagline you want to use is eligible for registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Although you can (and should) hire a trademark attorney to conduct your trademark search and provide you with a legal opinion as to whether your mark is available for registration, another option is to perform the search yourself using an online trademark search engine, such as the one offered by Trademarkia.

However, please allow me to demonstrate why using the Trademarkia search engine has tremendous potential to lead you astray and completely waste your time and hard-earned money.

LegalZoom and Trademarkia – The Perils of Using Do-It-Yourself Trademark Services

legalzoom trademarkia

When it comes to do-it-yourself trademark websites, LegalZoom and Trademarkia are two of the most popular ones, thanks in large part to aggressive marketing and a focus on upselling and volume. For those of you who aren’t familiar with these websites, LegalZoom is a legal document filing service, while Trademarkia is essentially a trademark search engine.

Despite the legal focus of these websites, both LegalZoom and Trademarkia are unable to dispense legal advice. They even offer a number of disclaimers that prominently emphasize this fact:

Trademarkia Review (Part 3) – The Trademarkia Trademark Application Filing Service

trademarkia trademark application

In this third installment of my series on Trademarkia, I’ll take a look at Trademarkia’s trademark application filing service. If you haven’t read my first two articles about Trademarkia, you may find it beneficial to do so before continuing. You can read my earlier articles by clicking below:

Trademarkia Review (Part 1) – Is Trademarkia a Scam?

Trademarkia Review (Part 2) – The Trademarkia Trademark Search

In Part 1 of my Trademarkia review (Is Trademarkia a Scam?), I attempted to uncover the truth about Trademarkia, using its very own words, claims, and explanations. I explored what Trademarkia professes to be (an online search engine) as well as what Trademarkia declares itself not to be (a provider of legal advice and services). I also tried to decipher the confusing relationship between Trademarkia and its behind-the-scenes founder/administrator – the law firm of Raj Abhyanker, PC. We’re now ready to take a deeper look into what the Trademarkia trademark search service entails.