[lucaspiller]

I think the trademark office needs some reform as well. As I understand the process of an application first involves a search to check that the term hasn't been trademarked before or that very similar trademarks don't exist - not to check whether the term has been used before. The trademark is then "published for opposition" in the weekly trademark office Gazette, at which point anyone who believes they may incur damages from the trademark being granted (people selling "I love π." t-shirts) should contact the trademark office. In this case, the application can be seen on page 893 [0].

If I am selling something do I have to hire someone to check this every week to ensure someone doesn't file a trademark for any terms I have used? There is also the same thing for patents.

[0] http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/tmog/20131112_OG.pdf