I'm working on a video game that I'm planning to sell and I'd like to use a certain name, lets call it "X". I did a trademark search through the USPTO and nothing came up. I also did a Google search and found one free flash game that you can play online using the same name. The game doesnt use the "tm" symbol, nor does it suggest in any way that I saw that it's claiming to be a trademark.
The question is, can I use the name and trademark it? As a layman, it seems that a free product wouldnt qualify as "trade", hence no trademark. Is that incorrect? Does he have a trademark even if not claiming "tm" and giving away the product for free?
The question is, can I use the name and trademark it? As a layman, it seems that a free product wouldnt qualify as "trade", hence no trademark. Is that incorrect? Does he have a trademark even if not claiming "tm" and giving away the product for free?