Trademark and Copyright.

Hello!

Today's  topic  is  about  Trademark and  Copyright searches, which  are ALL  available to the public.

Want to  find out  when  someone has  filed a  trademark?

It's   very  easy  to  do.  Do  a  google  search for Trademark  Search. There  are  countless  sites. One  can  even  go to  the US  Trademark online  office  and  find out  tons of  information on  a  pending  or registered  trademark.

Here  are  some  links.
US Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/

Trademarkia
http://www.trademarkia.com

Once you have  selected  a site,  do  a  search  with the   exact name  you  are looking  for.

In this  case  as   demonstrated  below by the  screenshot,  we  are   looking up  My- Besties.

Once  again, let me  state this is  ALL PUBLIC RECORD.

Same   as  copyright searchs. 

Every wondered who  has the first copyright date?

Check out this  site,  The  US Copyright  Office.

Here once again  you can   do  a public  search..
http://www.copyright.gov/

Now  with the  US  copyright office   you might have  to  use  keywords instead and  at other times   actual names of the  artists or   pieces  of  work.

Now  when you  copyright  an  image you must  use the  exact  image and  title of the piece. Once  filed you   receive   a  number  but  it  takes  a few months  before it  documented  and  becomes  official.    An   artist   can  not   grab  a previous  title/image that  has been  copyrighted,   for example  Girl  with  Frog, and  years later  say    a newly created  image  which  looks   nothing like  Girl  with  Frog is the  same image. It  doesn't  work that way.   You CAN NOT alter   copyright  information to  suit  your  needs.

If  you  ever  question  a  trademark  or  an  artist's   copyright  use the  online  public  search. It's  an  amazing  tool.

Zach