Not too long ago, I got this letter from USTMS saying that they would actually make sure that my trademark is properly protected. I read the thing a bit to see how much they would charge and such.

Well... Point one, they are not attorneys. That's funny because so far those I heard of monitoring trademarks are attorneys. Funny, hey?! Bar start, I will say.

And so, what's the price? A little cheaper than the IDM company since this one is only US $395.00. Plus the stamp because the envelope is not pre-stamped...

Whether they really do something that's useful, hey! Maybe it works for some people. It is clear that with 200,000 new trademarks each month, I cannot look over them all since it would take all my time. So?! How do they do it? Probably using computers. Whether their algorithm is good, who knows! The fact that they do not guarantee anything, not even finding equivalent trademarks being registered under our noses, sounds fishy.

The address on the envelope:

	UNITED STATES TRADEMARK MAINTENANCE SERVICE
	PO BOX 310835
	HOUSTON, TEXAS 77231-0835

Note that somehow IDM is also in Houston Texas. There must be something about trademarks and Houston. Even though the USPTO is not there.

The following companies seem to do similar things...

• ODM srl, Registration of International Trademark
• TMWorldwide International Catalogue of Trademarks, Hungary
• International Data Medium Anstalt, Liechtenstein
• (hey! this very one!) USTMS United States Trademark Maintenance Service, Elective Trademark Monitoring Service, Houston, USA
• CPTD - Central Patent & Trademark Database
• ECTC European Chamber of Trade and Commerce (Europäischer Handelsmarken-Index zum Schutz des geistigen Eigentums)
• Europäisches Veröffentlichungsblatt für Patentrechtsdokumentation, Schweizerische Markenrechte (EVPUD, Europäische Vereinigung für Patent- und Urheberrechtsdokumentation)
• Europäisches Veröffentlichungsblatt für Patentrechtsdokumentation (EUPADOS)
• INFO-COM (Info-Register für geschützte Marken)
• Institut of Commerce for Industry, Trade, Commerce (WIHH Wirtschaftsinstitut für Industrie, Handel, Handwerk AG, Baar/Zug)
• Institut for Trade, Commerce, Industry (GMT Gesellschaft für M & T AG, Baar/Zug)
• SCTC Swiss Chamber of Trade and Commerce (SCTC Handelsmarken-Index)
• THE MARKS KFT.
• TMG Trade Mark Guide ©®TM (Das «Who is Who» der Marken)
• Trademark Publisher
• Zentrales Datenregister für Internationale Marken (ZDR-Datenregister GmbH, Frankfurt/Main)
• WIG-Wirtschaftszentrale für Industrie und Gewerbe AG (Zürich)
• Marken-Index Schweiz (European Center for Patent Documentation (EUCPD))
• American Trademark Agency