Trademark examiner
Encyclopedia
A trademark examiner is an attorney employed by a government entity such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office
to determine whether an applicant should be permitted to receive a trademark registration, thus affording legal protection to the applicant's trademark
. The job of a trademark examiner is thus to examine marks applied for to determine if they run afoul of any prohibitions on registration, such as infringing upon an existing registration of the same mark, or constituting the generic name of the goods with which the mark is associated.
, and seeing this denial through any appeals taken within the USPTO. All USPTO trademark examiners work in the USPTO building in Alexandria, Virginia
.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
to determine whether an applicant should be permitted to receive a trademark registration, thus affording legal protection to the applicant's trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
. The job of a trademark examiner is thus to examine marks applied for to determine if they run afoul of any prohibitions on registration, such as infringing upon an existing registration of the same mark, or constituting the generic name of the goods with which the mark is associated.
In the United States
The USPTO employs several hundred trademark examiners at any given time, although the number fluctuates with the strength of the economy, which influences how many new trademark filings are being submitted. These employees are evaluated by a point system, based on the number of applications that they address and dispose of, either by permitting them to go forward to registration, or denying registration in an office actionOffice action
An office action is a document written by an examiner in a patent or trademark examination procedure and mailed to an applicant for a patent or trademark...
, and seeing this denial through any appeals taken within the USPTO. All USPTO trademark examiners work in the USPTO building in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
.