My colleague says that all lawyers use the same search service and that a single search shouldn’t be more than, say, $500.00.
A lawyer I know, however, offered the following:
Again, my colleague was like, “That’s a rip!” I’m not so sure, perhaps the laywers add some value in other dimensions.
I am looking for a more or less factual answer as to whether this is the going rate.
Would this serve your purpose? http://www.uspto.gov/main/search.html
Yes, there is a free search, but it apparently doesn’t cover trademarks in all 50 states, etc.
Any knowledge about whether what the lawyer wants to charge is market?
$1200-$1500 is ok depending on what you’re getting with the search. That the price we used to pay to our outside counsel before we started doing it ourselves. If the $1200 is just for search results, then it’s rip-off. There are plenty of internet search firms that will come in under half that. The industry best practices standard is arguably Thompson and Thompson. They aren’t much different that Trademark.com. However, do note that the $1200 fee also probably includes counsel analysis (at typically $300/hr). The search results from Thompson, trademarks.com, etc., will not have counsel assistance.
Also searching the uspto database is not easy or intuitive. IMHO, I do not recommend lay people trying to sift through all that information themselves. You have to know what class your searching for, and understand what is the standards for infringement. In addition, there is a learning curve just to understand the search results. On top of that, there are state trademark searches to do as well as federal, and international (depending on what strength you want for your mark). All these conditions can easily bump the price over $5000, and that’s not even counting the cost of prosecuting the trademark itself.
Please forgive what on the surface may appear to be a stupid question, but aren’t trademarks Federal, not by state? I was under the impression that states had nothing to do with trademarks?
Nope. States offer trademarks too. Unlike federal copyright and patent law, federal trademark law does not preempt all state laws on the subject. http://statetm.tripod.com/
But a federal registration usually trumps a state one. http://www.idea.piercelaw.edu/articles/32/p327.Christensen.pdf