As it is well-known in order to be distinguished and successful every business needs a good brand name. However, the brand-building process is not the only thing that has to be bear in mind when you launch a new mark in the market.

One crucial moment is whether your new brand name can infringe someone else’s already registered trademarks.

This is a situation when your brand name is identical or similar to a registered mark for identical or similar goods and services.

The logical question here is to what extent such a conflict can arise. The brief answer is that this is highly possible especially in the current global market where there are millions of registered signs all over the world.

If such a scenario happens the consequences could be quite negative. The first aftermath is the fact that when you applied for registration of your brand name it can face opposition by the owners of early registered similar signs.

Another, even a more daunting result could be a lawsuit for infringement of an already registered trademark.

In all cases, this could mean ceasing the trademark use and choosing a new brand name that will require new investments, etc.

In light of this one, unfortunately sometimes underestimated moment, is a preliminary trademark clearance search which to show whether you can use your mark or not.

You can do such a search for free using the official Patent Offices’ trademark databases.

However, to use them correctly you need to know some detail for trademark protection and how these database work.

In that regard, e new Udemy course has been published recently, which explains how you can conduct a trademark search on your own. You can assess the course from here, which by the way is on promotion with a 93% discount.