Q: I'm looking to create and sell books commercially.
Some of them will have the word “Animal/Animals” in the title, internal pages, description etc. But there's a trademark for the word “ANIMALS” overseas, covering books. Does it mean that I can't include the word “Animal/Animals” either capital or lowercase in my book at all when selling in the country where it's registered? title e.g. “50 Smiling Animals Coloring Book.”
A:
The titles of books cannot be copyrighted.
Foreign trademarks are not applicable unless you plan to sell in that country. If you are worried about trademarks in the U.S., I highly recommend hiring a qualified trademark attorney to run a clearance search to ensure you will not be infringing. If the clearance search results indicate you can use the trademark, then the next step is to apply for a federal registration so that you can lock out anyone else from using that trademark for the same product/service.
A: Your use of the word "ANIMALS" is merely descriptive of the subject, thus not infringing from a trademark perspective.
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