Trademark filings/registrations.

[RLM02]

Hello:

I am interested in trademarking a logo and a phrase. When I performed a search with the USTPO, there is the same phrase that I came up with that is registered as of just 2 weeks ago, the only difference is that I have an exclamation point after mine and they do not. This is what the statement says on the application: The mark consists of standard characters, without claim to any particular font, style, size, or color.
My question is, can I still file my intent to use/trademark application even though its the same phrase but technically its different because of the exclamation point? Do I need to file my logo seperate from the wording? The other person does not have any "design" with the phrase.

I did a sample search of a phrase Go Green and this phrase is used by multiple people with the same class, the only diffrence is the design and was approved.

Just because someone has a "non-specific" phrase without a design, that doesnt mean that you cant use the same thing does it, even if it has a logo with it, unlike this person's?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

The standard for trademark protection is that whatever you are trying to protect will identify the origin of mark holder and won't cause a "likelihood of confusion" in the marketplace. Coca-cola clearly identifies that company's brand of Cola and not Pepsi (and vice versa.) But do you think that Pepsi! is an appropriate differentiator or will people be confused as to whether that mark holder would be somehow connected with the Pepsi-Cola company?

There are different types of trademarks as well - some are protections for the actual words and others are for designs which have words appear. It would be very difficult to just trademark generic English words but they can mean something special if combined with a design to make the words + design unique and an identifier of the origin. Take for example Caspar, the friendly ghost. If you saw the name Caspar with the cartoon character, you'd know the origin immediately. But one could not trademark the word "Caspar" which is a proper name.