Database for Searching Foreign Trademarks

Services for searching foreign trademarks

I’m thinking of registering a trademark in a foreign country. Is there a database for foreign trademark registrations like J-PlatPat (Patent Information Platform) where I can search information on Japanese trademark registrations?

There are a variety of options. You may choose which database to use by the country or region you want to search. There are also databases that allow you to search in Japanese. Why not try it yourself? There are some databases that can be used for free. Let me explain in detail.

Free service for searching foreign trademarks

If you are considering doing business abroad, you need to make sure that the name of your product or service is already in use in that country. As a first way to try, you can check using search engines such as Google. However, those results alone will not tell you whether the trademark is registered in that country or not. Therefore, it is necessary to search to see if the trademark is registered in a foreign country.

There are many services available on the web site for searching registered trademarks. Some of them are free of charge.
Here is a list of the main ones.

WIPO Global Brand Database

This is a free trademark search service provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It covers trademark information from more than 70 countries and regions. In addition to text, graphic searches are also available.

WIPO Global Brand Database

ASEAN TMVIEW

This is a free trademark search service provided by the intellectual property offices of ASEAN member countries. The service is available in seven languages including English, and covers trademark information for 10 ASEAN member countries (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar).

ASEAN TMVIEW

Patent Offices of each country

The same trademark search service as “J-PlatPat” in Japan is provided on the websites of the patent offices in various countries, including the U.S., China, Korea, and Taiwan. Similar search services are often provided in other countries as well. Recently, an increasing number of countries offer searches in English as well as in the country’s native language. If you are interested, please visit the website of the patent office of each country.

How to use WIPO Global Brand Database

Here are some details on how to use WIPO Global Brand Database.

When you access to WIPO Global Brand Database, the following menu screen appears.

1.　First, let’s search by “Brand name” (trademark name).
Enter the name of the trademark you wish to search for.
For example, let’s search for “adidas”.

2.　Press the light blue button “Search”, and the following screen will appear.

This is a list of the search results.
On the left side of the screen, you will see the classification of the hit search results.
If there are too many hits, you can narrow down your search here by for example, the country or status.

3.　In STATUS, you can see whether the trademark is registered, expired, or pending. In this case, the number of registered trademarks is 597.

4. In IP OFFICE, you can see in which countries the trademark is pending/registered.

In total, 55 countries and regions were covered, including Korea, Japan, the U.S., Germany, Malaysia, Uruguay, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Mexico, India, Canada, and Spain.
“[JP] JPO” shows the number of trademarks filed with the Japan Patent Office, the total number of which is 86, in this case.

5.　NICE CLASSIFICATION shows the goods and services designated in the trademark application/registration and the international classification (Class).

The most common goods are Clothing and Footwear in Class 25.

6.　Next, let’s search trademark using Image.

Click on “FIND BY BRAND LOGO” circled in red.

In the blank space below, paste the image by drag & drop or by specifying a folder.
To the right of the image, select one of the search options.
Then, click the light blue button “Search” to display the search results.

The following screen shot shows the results of the search for images of famous adidas trademarks that are similar in concept and have been registered in the United States of America.

In addition to the Adidas trademark, there is a list of other marks that have been determined by the AI to be similar.

Clicking on a particular case from the list will display detailed information.

This will show you the name of the applicant, the date of registration, the class, the designated goods, etc.

I see that I can search foreign trademarks for free.
I thought it might be difficult to search foreign trademarks, but as you explained, I’ll give it a try and search first!

Trademark Application in Foreign Country

After you use the foreign trademark search service yourself and find that you can register your trademark, the next step is to consider filing a trademark application in a foreign country.

With our online service “Amazing DX”, a trademark attorney of our firm with extensive experience in foreign applications will handle your request.

Since the correspondence will be handled by our trademark attorneys, we can ensure the quality of our service while keeping the price low and the procedure speedy.
First, please feel free to contact us using Request Form. You can also request just a quote.
Please feel free to contact us.