John_Wake - 5:37 pm on Jan 26, 2001 (gmt 0)

I registered a trademark myself but it took a tremendous amount of study and about $450 in fees to the government. It's super complex issue.

In 1997, I found the best book to be "Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business & Product Name" from Nolo Press. It was about $30 bucks.

Since that edition came out in 1997, it's _much_ easier to research trademarks because the federal government database of trademarks is on the web at the address Marcia gave above. On the other hand, the .com names complicated the issue tremendously since 1997.

Your problem seems a bit messy with a competitor using the same name on a similar product in "interstate commerce." Sorry to say, but you probably need professional trademark help.

And like rcjordan said, don't be surprised if you find that you are infringing someone else trademark. There's zillions of 'em.

Hope that's helpful.