At the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the trademark examining attorneys and administrative judges of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board are tasked with reviewing trademark applications to ensure that they are in good form and that the applied-for mark is eligible for federal trademark registration. Examiners and judges are guided in their review by several policies including the Lanham Act, the federal statute governing trademark law in the United States (15 U.S.C. Section 1051 et. seq.), and the USPTO’s trademark rules of practice and trademark manual of examining procedure or TMEP, among others.

The TMEP is a publicly available document that serves as an excellent resource for actual and potential trademark applicants, registrants and their attorneys. It is accessible online and easily searchable here: http://www.uspto.gov/trademark/guides-and-manuals/tmep-archives. The TMEP incorporates the Lanham Act and identifies all important application details including what must be included in an original or renewal application, who is entitled to register a mark and whether they must be represented by an attorney, and what kind of mark is eligible for federal trademark registration versus what kind of mark is prohibited.