Example of competitive intelligence using the trademark register

A lot of information can be gleamed from the trademark filings at the USPTO. 

Here is a recent example of competitive intelligence discovered from the register:

McDonald’s Eyeing Retail Coffee Market? (via Burger Business)

Here are the USPTO filings made by McDonald’s last month for “ground and whole bean coffee” (click for USPTO records):

• 
• MCCAFE
• MCDONALD’S
• 

As I wrote previously, the potential value of the competitive intelligence available from the USPTO trademark records is huge. Businesses can follow trends in the industry, or monitor their competitor’s projects.

TIP: You can use the sofTMware online trademark record monitoring tool to track the status of any applications you want to monitor for competitive intelligence.