Similarity search

The similarity search (recherche de similarité, also recherche de similitude) consists of searching for all marks similar to a proposed mark in order to determine whether a sign is available. It is the full-scope search a US practitioner would call a comprehensive search, as opposed to a knock-out screen.

Legal criteria drive the search

The search applies the criteria that trademark law itself uses to decide whether one sign is similar to another: similarity is assessed on the conceptual, phonetic and visual levels — the same three-way analysis used in oppositions and infringement cases (see similarity of signs).

How search engines find similar marks

In practice, search engines generate lists of marks sharing structural features with the proposed sign:

• the same letters — same beginning, same ending, or same middle;
• the same sequence of consonants;
• the same sequence of vowels;
• phonetically similar marks.

Similarity search vs. identical search

The similarity search differs from the more limited identical search (recherche à l’identique), which only retrieves marks that are identical or contain the same string of letters. Because most real-world conflicts — oppositions and infringement claims — involve similar rather than identical marks, only a similarity search gives a reliable picture of the risk before a French or EU filing.

See also: prior-rights search, availability of a sign, trademark clearance search.

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