What is a trademark search?
The IPOPHL is used to conduct a trademark search. The search establishes whether or not a proposed trademark can be used in connection with specific goods or services. Similar wordmarks, as well as phonetically similar names in a certain class, can be found exhaustively using trademark search Philippines.
How to conduct a trademark search in the Philippines?
At the IPOPHL link, you can conduct a free online trademark search at the Trademark Registry of the Philippines.
There are three types of trademark searches.
- Wordmark: For the similar representation of wordmark;
- Vienna Code: For similar artistic representation; and
- Phonetic: For phonetically similar words.
Trademark Search Parameters
There are three different search types available: Wordmark, Vienna Code, and Phonetic.
- Wordmark Search
To do a Wordmark search, for example, choose “Wordmark” as the search type and enter the proposed trademark’s keyword(s) in the box labeled “Wordmark.”
There are 45 different trademark registration classes. According to the Nice Classification, Classes 1-34 deal with diverse items, while Classes 35-45 deal with services. As a result, you’ll need to correct the class in the box to “CLASS.” And the class (es) should be connected to your trademark’s services or products. You can only search the Philippines trademark database using a single class at a time.
The wordmark search can be done using any prefix approach, such as “Starts With,” “Contains,” or “Match With.”
A keyword search in the “Starts With” option will return all trademarks that begin with the searched keyword. A search with a keyword in the “Contains” box, on the other hand, will return all trademarks that contain the sought keyword. For a search using a term in the “Match With” option, however, the result will only reveal trademarks that match the searched keyword.
- Search Result
After you’ve entered all of the essential information, click the ‘Start Search’ button to see the results of your search. The table would show the specifics of each trademark, such as the S.No. matching trademark(s), and images. To display all of the results, click the box in the left top corner or click the selection box given in S.No. For the selected trademark. After checking the boxes, click “Report” to see a detailed report of all trademarks.
If there are no identical trademarks on record after conducting a trademark search, you may proceed to file the trademark.
- Phonetic Search
Except for the prefix approach, the phonetic search would be the same as the above Wordmark search method. As a result, you can use the same procedure as before to do a phonetic search of the trademark.
- Vienna code Search
The Vienna code search is mostly used to locate similar device models, and you must input the six-digit Vienna code in the box labeled “Vienna code” and pick the appropriate category. Following the search, the result table will display all of the marks that contain the device. Please keep in mind that the processes outlined above are common trademark search procedures in the Philippines. However, obtaining trademark registration of your brand name or emblem should be done with the help of an expert.