System to inform about trademarks similar to provided input

• US 8,667,609 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edwin Tan
• Original Assignee: Sky Castle Global Limited
• Inventors: Tan, Edwin, St. John, Michael E Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chai, Longbit
• Application Number:
  US13/830,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254124A1
• Time in Patent Office: 355 Days
• Field of Search: 726/32
• US Class Current: 726/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/36 with means for detecting characters not meant for transmission

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate to trademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for informing requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input. Some embodiments of the present invention provide for a proactive system in which users are notified of similar trademarks before using specific term(s) and users proceed after understanding which trademarks actually exist and what areas those trademarks actually entail, and possibly being notified of newly applied trademarks and modified trademarks at later times that are similar to the specific term(s) being used.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a computer system to ensure that a domain name registration would not infringe a trademark, comprising:

receiving, from a requester, a request for an internet domain name;

determining a degree of relevance between the internet domain name and at least one trademark, wherein the degree of relevance comprises a combination of;

a similarity score determined by comparing characters in the trademark with characters in the internet domain name; and

a class comparison score determined by comparing trademark classes associated with the at least one trademark with trademark classes associated with the internet domain name, wherein a higher number of matching classes corresponds to a greater degree of relevance;

retrieving, by the computer system, a notice of the at least one trademark;

displaying, by the computer system, a notification to the requester, the notification based in part on the notice and a relation between the degree of relevance and a threshold;

receiving, by the computer system, acknowledgement of the notification from the requester; and

causing, by the computer system, the internet domain name to be registered based in part on the determined degree of relevance, wherein the causing includes making the acknowledgement available to a third party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain name is an identical match to the trademark.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain name is a typo of the trademark.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requester is an end-user, wherein the request for the internet domain name was generated by a domain name registrar, and wherein the request for the internet domain name was generated in response to the end-user visiting a website of the domain name registrar and typing in the internet domain name.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the internet domain name into phrases for searching.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the combination further comprises:

an indication of the trademark status;

a jurisdiction associated with the trademark; and

a comparison of a relative relevance of a first degree of relevance for a trademark and a second degree of relevance for a trademark.

7. A method implemented on a computer system to ensure that a domain name registration would not infringe a trademark, comprising:

receiving, from a requester, a request to perform a search related to an internet domain name;

determining a degree of relevance between the internet domain name and at least one trademark, wherein the degree of relevance comprises a combination of;

a similarity score determined by comparing characters in the trademark with characters in the internet domain name; and

a class comparison score determined by comparing trademark classes associated with the at least one trademark with trademark classes associated with the internet domain name, wherein a higher number of matching classes corresponds to a greater degree of relevance;

sending, to the requester and by the computer system, a message based on the degree of relevance determination, wherein the message triggers a notification of the at least one trademark to be presented to an end-user, the notification based in part on a relation between the degree of relevance and a threshold; and

receiving, by the computer system, a request to register the internet domain name, wherein the request includes an acknowledgement of the notification of the at least one trademark by the end-user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain name is an exact match to the trademark.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain name is a typo of the trademark.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the requester is a domain name registrar, wherein the receiver of the request to perform the search is a registry, and wherein the request to perform the search was generated in response to an end-user visiting a website of the domain name registrar and typing in the internet domain name.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the registry creates a unique identifier based on the degree of relevance.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the domain name registrar uses the unique identifier for verification.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

parsing the internet domain name into phrases for searching.

14. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer system to perform the steps of;

receiving, from a requester, a request for an internet domain;

causing a database search for trademarks related to the internet domain;

identifying at least one trademark based upon a degree of relevance between the internet domain name and the at least one trademark, wherein the degree of relevance comprises a combination of;

a similarity score determined by comparing characters in the trademark with characters in the internet domain name; and

a class comparison score determined by comparing trademark classes associated with the at least one trademark with trademark classes associated with the internet domain name, wherein a higher number of matching classes corresponds to a greater degree of relevance;

retrieving, by the computer system a notice of the at least one trademark;

displaying, by the computer system, a notification to the requester, the notification based in part on the notice and a relation between the degree of relevance and a threshold;

receiving, by the computer system, acknowledgement of the notification from the requester; and

causing, by the computer system, the internet domain to be registered based in part on the determined degree of relevance, wherein the causing includes making the acknowledgement available to a third party.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain is an identical match to the trademark.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain is a typo of the trademark.

17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the requester is an end-user, and wherein the receiver of the request for the internet domain is a domain name registrar.

18. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to perform the steps of;

receiving, from a requester, a request to perform a search related to an internet domain name;

determining a degree of relevance between the internet domain name and the at least one trademark, wherein the degree of relevance comprises a combination of;

a similarity score determined by comparing characters in the trademark with characters in the internet domain name; and

a class comparison score determined by comparing trademark classes associated with the at least one trademark with trademark classes associated with the internet domain name, wherein a higher number of matching classes corresponds to a greater degree of relevance; and

receiving, by the computer system, a request to register the internet domain by the end-user based in part on a relation between the degree of relevance and a threshold.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain is an identical match to the trademark.

20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the degree of relevance further comprises a determination whether the internet domain is a typo of the trademark.

21. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the requester is a domain name registrar, and wherein the receiver of the request to perform the search is a registry.