Back to Trademark ownership

What information about the holder of the trademark is public?

Senior Trademark Attorney

Depending on who owns the trademark (natural person or legal entity), the following information is publicly available:

For an individual: name, primary address, and citizenship are typically shown.

For a company: the company's legal name, registered address, country of incorporation, and in some jurisdictions the company registration number are shown.

Representative details (if an attorney or firm filed on behalf of the owner) are also publicly listed on the application.

Related questions

Generic trademarks: the case of Booking.com

By definition, a trademark needs to display sufficient distinctiveness to identify the origin and ownership of the products and services. That means generic and descriptive words should be avoided at all costs. The landmark case in United States PTO v. Booking.com B.V, however, proves that a generic term combined with “.com” or another top-level domain can be registered as a trademark if there is sufficient evidence of consumer recognition.

Words to avoid when choosing a trademark

Your trademark is the face your brand. Trademark registration helps your customers to identify the goods and services you offer and differentiate them from the ones offered by your competitors. It is then essential to make sure that your trademark is distinct and recognisable enough to represent your brand.

Lindt secured another win for its chocolate bunny trademark in the EU

The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the gold-coloured foil-wrapped chocolate bunny from Lindt & Sprüngli can claim trademark protection against the competing product from Lidl. Lidl is no longer allowed to sell its rabbit because of the risk of confusion and must destroy existing copies of the product.