Today, patent office databases and search procedures are sophisticated to the point that it is relatively easy to predict whether or not trademarks to be filed can be registered. It may not be exaggerating to say that the results of trademark searches and filings would not differ from one practitioner to another. In the highly advanced information environment of today, the difficulty of “prior search” and “similarity determination,” which had been crucial tasks in the trademark business, has been lowered in relative terms.

Nevertheless, trademarks have been diversified to include colors and sounds, in addition to characters, figures and symbols, and palates and scents are now envisaged. Under such diversification of trademarks, we believe that trademark experts now and future should provide ideas through the stages of conceptualization and selection of trademarks, and perform branding with outside perspectives.