A cocky bot
to help you spot
a romance-related
trademark cock-up.
Who or what is CockyBot?
CockyBot is a Twitter bot that scans the US Patent and Trademark Office's database for recent applications to register trademarks relevant to authors of fiction. It's been described as an “advanced warning system on crazy trademarks”, but it can double as a fun way to discover creatively-titled new book series. Initially – as the bot's creation was inspired by #cockygate – its focus was on romance novels, but its search has now expanded to include other genres of fiction as well due to popular demand.
CockyBot makes two different types of notifications:
1. On a daily basis, it looks for new filings. At this stage the USPTO has accepted the
filing as complete, but has not made any judgement of whether or not to grant it. It is
possible to file a letter of protest regarding the application at this stage, but the
grounds to successfully protest are relatively narrow: the term must be generic or merely
descriptive, or there must be a chance of confusion with another mark that is either
already federally registered or in the application process.
TESS is updated with new
filings around 12 AM Pacific. CockyBot is currently scheduled to run at 12:30 AM Pacific.
Updates to TESS usually lag four or so days behind actual filings, so
notification on CockyBot will also be several days after the actual filing date. Note
that, due to the weekend, new filings are generally not added Saturday night.
Notification of new filing
events will contain this wording:
An application to trademark “X” was just filed.
2. On Tuesdays, the USPTO publishes the
Trademark Official Gazette
containing a list of marks that have passed examination and that it intends to grant.
This publication opens a 30-day window in which affected parties may formally oppose the
application. The grounds on which a mark may be successfully opposed are generally
broader than those on which a protest can succeed and may include common law trademarks
and priority. The bot looks for these publications weekly.
Notification of a
publication for opposition will contain this wording:
An application to trademark “X” was just published for opposition.
What does it specifically look for?
The bot searches for active applications for trademarks or collective marks containing
relevant terms in the description of goods and services covered by the mark. The search
is limited to applications with classes that cover books, ebooks, novels, and short
stories (i.e. international classes 009 and 016). It only looks for “standard
character marks” – defined as marks consisting “of standard characters
without claim to any particular font style, size, or color.”
A typical query to TESS from CockyBot looks something like this, where $genreList is a
variable of current genres it's searching for, e.g. 'romance or mystery or fantasy or
"science fiction" or etc':
`FD > 20180504 < 20180518 AND (book OR novels NOT NEAR graphic OR "short stories")[GS]
WITH (fiction NOT NEAR non OR fictional OR novels OR "short stories" OR $genreList)[GS]
SAME (("009" OR "016") WITH IC)[GS] AND ("4")[MD] AND (LIVE)[LD] AND (Trademark OR "Collective Mark")[TM]
What are the links in the tweets?
The first two are both links to the USPTO's Trademark Status & Document Retrieval site.
The first is a summary page, with the current status of the application
and full descriptions of what goods and services it covers, among other information. The second is
a direct link to all documents on file pertaining to the application.
The third and final link is to a search page on Amazon.com with results from a search made
using the application's word mark in the books category. This is provided both to help you
conveniently find evidence a term is already in generic use for fiction, giving potential
grounds for a letter or protest, and to easily check out interesting names just for fun.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, CockyBot earns from qualifying purchases made when
using the Amazon link.
Sharyn Ferns:
- Sharyn Fern's blog, Domme Chronicles, was how I heard of #cockygate.
- Her books – Please take a look if you'd like to thank the bot.
CockyBot:
- CockyBot's code on GitHub
- Source of logo image
- Early 2018 Application Filings Memory Bank
- 2017 Application Filings Memory Bank
Protesting an application before a publication for opposition:
- CockyBot database to coordinate letters of protest
- Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Link to file a letter of protest
- USPTO: Letter of Protest Practice Tip
- TMEP: 1715 – Letters of Protest in Pending Applications
- Letters Of Protest: An Attractive Alternative to a U.S. Opposition
Opposing after a publication for opposition:
- Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
- Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure
- TMEP: 1503.01 – Filing a Notice of Opposition
- Trademark and Opposition Fees
- Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA)
Searching for trademark records:
- Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
- Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) Help
- Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR)
- Trademark ID Manual - Master List Search
- Select acceptable identifications with "Book"
- Acceptable identifications with "Novel"
- Acceptable identifications with "Fiction"
- Acceptable identifications with "Short Stories"
- USPTO FAQs: Personal Information in Trademark Records