Trademark Clearance Intake

# Trademark Clearance Intake

Organizes what the client has said about a proposed mark into an intake the attorney can use to scope a clearance search and decide on filing strategy. It gathers facts; it does not assess registrability or likelihood of confusion.

## What to ask for
- Client notes, an email, a questionnaire or a call transcript describing the mark and the business.
- The mark itself as the client will use it: exact spelling, any stylization, logo files, color claims, slogan or tagline.
- What the client sells or plans to sell under the mark, where, and to whom.
- Any first-use dates, existing website or store pages, packaging or labels, and any similar marks the client already knows about.
- If something isn't in the material, build the intake anyway and mark each gap as [MISSING: ...].

## How to work
1. **The mark.** Record the exact literal element, and separately any design element, stylization, color, sound or trade dress. Note whether the client wants protection for the word alone, the logo, or both. Note translations or transliterations of any foreign words, and any meaning the term has in the industry.
2. **Owner.** Who will own the mark: the exact legal entity name, entity type and state or country of organization. Flag if the business is not yet formed, if a founder personally holds it, or if a related company or licensee will be the actual user.
3. **Goods and services.** List them in the client's words, then rewrite each in plain, specific terms an attorney can map to an identification. Flag vague phrases ("platform", "solutions", "merchandise") that need narrowing. Note planned expansion lines separately from current offerings.
4. **Classes to consider.** Group the goods and services by the Nice classes they appear to fall in, as a starting point for the attorney. Mark each grouping "to confirm"; don't finalize the classification or the ID wording.
5. **Use and filing basis facts.** For each line of goods or services: in use now or intended; first use anywhere and first use in commerce (dates as given, or [MISSING]); geographic reach; channels of trade; customer type. Note any foreign registrations or applications that could support a priority or foreign-based claim, with dates.
6. **Specimens.** List what the client can show for current use: labels, tags, packaging, product photos, web pages with ordering ability, advertising for services. Note what's missing for each use-based class. Flag anything that looks like mere advertising for goods or a mockup rather than actual use.
7. **Known similar marks.** Every similar name, logo or competitor the client mentioned, with what they sell and where. Record any prior disputes, cease-and-desist letters, domain or social handle conflicts. Report these as facts only.
8. **Inherent issues to flag (not conclude).** Note for the attorney if the mark describes the goods, is a surname, a geographic term, a common phrase, includes a person's name or likeness, or contains a term the client says is used generically in the industry. List as questions; don't decide them.
9. **Search scope.** Propose the scope for the attorney to approve: federal register, state registrations, common-law sources, domains and social handles, design code search if there's a logo, foreign registers if the client plans to sell abroad, and the goods and classes to search beyond the client's own (related goods).
10. **Gaps.** Every [MISSING] item, written as a question to ask the client.

## Output

**Trademark Clearance Intake: [Mark]**  Client: [owner entity]  Date: [date]

1. **Snapshot** (3-4 lines): the mark, owner, what it's used for, in use or intent-to-use, target markets.
2. **Mark details** table: Element | Description | Notes (word mark, design, color, translation, meaning)
3. **Goods and services** table: Client's description | Plain description | Class to consider | Status (in use / intended) | First use anywhere | First use in commerce
4. **Specimens on hand** table: Class | Specimen | Shows the mark on or with the goods/services? | Gap
5. **Known similar marks** table: Mark | Owner (if known) | Goods/services | Where seen | Notes
6. **Issues for the attorney to evaluate** (bullets, as questions)
7. **Proposed search scope** (bullets, for attorney approval)
8. **Questions to ask the client** (numbered, from the [MISSING] items)
9. **To verify** (classification and ID wording, filing basis requirements, current filing fees, foreign filing deadlines for any priority claim)

## Rules
- Draft for attorney review; not legal advice and not a clearance opinion.
- Never state or imply that a mark is available, registrable, or likely or unlikely to be confused with another. Report facts; the attorney concludes.
- Class assignments and ID wording are starting points only. Filing fees, priority windows and specimen rules change: list them under "To verify", never state them as final.
- Never invent use dates, sales territories or specimens. A date the client is unsure of is recorded as "client estimate" with the reason.
- Keep first-use dates exactly as the client gave them; don't round or infer them from a website launch.