[E-trademarks] TM Search: Lexical error From Online Help Quotation Search

[Pamela Chestek]

My greater concern is that something like curly versus straight quotes 
will give unreliable results, something no one but you would have 
caught. Although the lack of adequate documentation makes searching the 
system frustrating, at least you don't get unreliable results. In my 
view it's completely unacceptable that the quotation mark problem can exist.

Pam

Pamela S. Chestek
Chestek Legal
300 Fayetteville St.
Unit 2402
Raleigh, NC 27602
+1 919-800-8033
pamela at chesteklegal.com
www.chesteklegal.com



On 2/15/2024 12:03 PM, Ken Boone via E-trademarks wrote:
> I encountered an unexpected error with trademark search.  Here's what 
> I did.
>
> From the online help, I selected Advanced, then Search Fields, then 
> scrolled down to the SA - Status field.  I copied to the clipboard the 
> text provided for that search field, namely the following.
>
> Contains a status such as registered, "published for opposition”, or 
> “new application”
>
> I then pasted the two quoted strings to the search box and performed 
> edits to construct a valid search of those two phrases. Here's the 
> search I submitted.
>
> SA:("published for opposition”“new application”) AND LD:true
>
> When submitted, I got the following error message:
>
> Error: Lexical error at line 1, column 63. Encountered: <EOF> after : 
> "\"published for opposition\u201d \u201cnew application\u201d) AND 
> LD:true"
>
> I then simplified the search to two distinct searches, namely
>
> SA:("published for opposition”) AND LD:true
> SA:( “new application”) AND LD:true
>
> where then first variation with just the "published for 
> opposition”phrase failed with the error
>
> Lexical error at line 1, column 47. Encountered: <EOF> after : 
> "\"published for opposition\u201d ) AND LD:true "
>
> but the second variation with the “new application” phrase 
> successfully completed, returning 395,051 hits.
>
> Notice the difference?  Apparently, the new trademark search system 
> does NOT like mixing the curly quotation characters “ or” with the 
> /standard quotation character /" as included the initial search and 
> the first variation, but the second variation with matching curly 
> quotes successfully completed.
>
> Jumping to the USPTO's standard character list, I see the following 
> quote characters (in case anyone found this interesting and is curious 
> enough to try other /quotation/ variations for trademark search, 
> though I may have missed relevant standard characters).
>
> Character
> 	
> Description
> 	
> Decimal
> "
> 	
> (double) quotation mark
> 	
> 34
> `
> 	
> grave accent
> 	
> 96
> ‚
> 	
> low left rising single quote
> 	
> 130
> „
> 	
> low left rising double quote
> 	
> 132
> ‹
> 	
> left single angle quote mark
> 	
> 139
> ‘
> 	
> left single quotation mark,
> 	
> 145
> ’
> 	
> right single quote mark
> 	
> 146
> “
> 	
> left double quotation mark,
> 	
> 147
> ”
> 	
> right double quote mark
> 	
> 148
> ›
> 	
> right single angle quote mark
> 	
> 155
> «
> 	
> left (double) angle quote
> 	
> 171
> ´
> 	
> spacing acute accent
> 	
> 180
> »
> 	
> right (double) angle quote
> 	
> 187
>
>
> As for me, I had to try searching *SA:(«published for opposition» ) 
> AND LD:true*, which succeeded, returning 88,368 hits, but I'm still 
> trying to find useful information in the SA - Status field.  So far, 
> my three more interesting SA - Status search results are
>
> (1) the search *(SA:("published for opposition" ) AND LD:true  ) NOT 
> PO:* *that returns 2 hits for which TSDR does NOT show the publication 
> date directly on the status page though the prosecution histories 
> display the published for opposition dates (both this past Tuesday); and
>
> (2) the search *SA:( “new application”) AND LD:true AND 
> RN:** retrieves 7 active registrations that are still considered to be 
> new applications on trademark search;
>
> (3) the search *(SA:( registered ) AND LD:true) NOT RN:** retrieves 
> 3 pending trademarks (no registration number on either TSDR or 
> trademark search);
>
> but my real disappointment is that trademark search does not include a 
> list of all or even the most commonly occurring phrases appearing in 
> the SA - Status field, nor does trademark search display the SA - 
> Status field in the record display, plus searching the phrases 
> occurring on the TSDR status typically fail to retrieve any document 
> in trademark search, basically minimizing any benefits for including 
> the SA - Status search field on trademark search.
>
> Happy Quotation Searching,
> Ken Boone
>
> PS - In additional to a Full Record display option (that includes all 
> the fields typically seen on registration certificates plus the SA - 
> status field and UD - update date), trademark search should include a 
> Drawings display option (like the retired TESS system) that displays 
> just the drawing and serial number for multiple records, allowing the 
> quick review of drawings for the search results.
>
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