Word marks (marks consisting only of words) may be searched at one of the many Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries located throughout the United States. You must actually go to the library itself and perform the search yourself. However, the Patent and Trademark Depository Librarians are extremely helpful in getting you started. If you need to find an attorney specializing in trademark law, can be found in at the local bar associations and in the Yellow Pages. They usually have attorney listings broken down by specialties.
There are many different laws and acts that deal with trademarks. The Lanham Act defines the statutory and common law boundaries to trademarks. The rights to use a trademark are defined by the class for which the trademark is used. Therefore, it is possible for different parties to use the same trademark in different classes. The Lanham Act defines the scope of a trademark, the process by which a federal registration, misuse of the trademarks can result in penalties for trademark infringement. Main points of the Lanham Act state that any person who shall, without the consent of the registrant for some of the following use in commerce any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of a registered mark in connection with the sale, offering to sale, distribution, or advertising of any goods or services on or in connection with which such use is likely to cause confusion. A main point of trademark infringement is whether a considerable amount of consumers are likely to be misled or confused about the original source. Some factors that might cause some misleading information from the registrant's trademark are the similarity of the uses of the two products, their nearness, and the defendant's good or bad faith in using the mark, the quality of the second product, and the sophistication of the consumer. The Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 stretched out the scope of rights granted to famous and distinctive trademarks under the Lanham Act.