How to search existing trade marks

If another trade mark exists that's too similar to your own, it may:

• Stop your trade mark from being registered
• Mean that use of your trade mark could be trade mark infringement.

A trade mark is generally considered too similar (i.e. ‘deceptively similar’) to another trade mark, if its use in relation to the same or similar goods or services may cause confusion.   

To search existing trade marks, you can use:

• TM Checker to check your idea
• the Australian Trade Mark Search to look up registered and pending trade marks.

International trade mark search 

If you're looking to take your trade mark to another country, you'll need to check if it already exists there.

How to search existing IP overseas International trade mark search

Tips for searching trade marks

You can search by:

• Word
• Image
• Owner
• Phrase
• Type or kind of trade mark
• Classes of goods and services.

It’s important to cover all bases and search beyond exact matches for your idea. Trade marks that aren't identical but still look or sound similar or share important features, can conflict with one another.

1. Try different spellings

Consider alternative spelling and words that sound similar (e.g. for the word 'easy', also consider 'eezy', 'ezy' and 'eezee').

2. Search various forms of the word

Use the 'part word' option to cover plurals, suffixes and prefixes in your search (e.g. for the word 'bark', you'll see results for 'barks' and 'barking').

It's important to also check for phonetic variations of words (e.g. 'pelican', 'pelikan').

3. Break up your trade mark into important parts and search those parts separately

Word and image components should always be searched separately. You should also break up words so you're searching distinctive elements separately from descriptive elements.

4. Search images using descriptive image terms

Trade marks containing images can be searched using the Image Terms glossary, a link for which can be found next to the image search field. For example, a search for ‘TREE’ as a part image will return results of trade marks including images of a tree.

In some cases, searches can also be made more specific. For example, if you're only looking for trade marks containing palm trees, you can search the image term ‘TREE, PALM’.

5. Check the goods and services

It's possible for identical or similar trade marks to co-exist on the register, provided that the goods and services they cover are not the same or similar.