CT Corsearch Announces Trademark Search Capabilities for the U.S. Pharmaceutical Market

NEW YORK, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- CT Corsearch, part of CT, a Wolters Kluwer business and the premier provider of clearance and protection solutions for trademark and brand professionals, today announced the availability of its new comprehensive trademark search capabilities designed specifically for the specialized needs of the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical trademarks are unique in that brands and product names must be cleared with both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Each year, the FDA rejects about one-third of the approximately 400 brand names it reviews.

A trademarked name must be dissimilar to other existing names that could cause confusion, which is standard for trademark clearance, and also avoid consumer confusion by ensuring it is not similar to the name of a pre-existing drug or device in the look, sound when spoken and appearance when written.

The new CT Corsearch pharmaceutical trademark search combines key components in the clearance process that cover both standard trademark clearance and name safety components. The result is a big step forward in pharmaceutical clearance that incorporates the FDA's Phonetic Orthographic Computer Analysis (POCA) and summarizes unwieldy name safety data like Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) into an easy-to-review summary format and overall, synthesizes name safety into the clearance process.

"Branding is a complex and potentially game-changing task for the pharmaceutical industry, where a particular name can generate millions and even billions of dollars in annual sales," said Stephen Anderson, manager of content development for CT Corsearch.  "Our new pharmaceutical trademark search addresses the two-pronged search capabilities required to help these companies be successful in clearing compelling brand names and identities quickly and effectively, so that they can focus on the task of bringing their products to market."

Key features of CT Corsearch's pharmaceutical search include:

• A jurisdictional overview, summarizing where marks are cited across jurisdictions in chart form;
• Functions to provide users with the ability to view identical marks across all sources searched;
• A summary pharmaceutical information box, showing safety information about a mark;
• Name safety, providing detail from Prescription Drug User Fee Act 4 sources, including: Orange Book, Drugs@FDA, AERS, VAERS, USAN Names and Stems and Pharma In-Use; and
• The industry's first full integration of the FDA's POCA across sources and including POCA rankings.

"The pharmaceutical search adds a wealth of information that flags where there are real potential issues," said Susan Upton Douglass a partner at Fross, Zelnick, Lehrman & Zissu. "It was amazing to see all of these resources brought together in such an organized and useful way. This enhanced search report is really cutting edge, making the other products now obsolete."

About CT Corsearch

CT Corsearch provides high-quality, intuitive tools and expertise that trademark professionals need to effectively manage the trademark screening, search review and watching processes.  Its highly trained researchers and customer-designed tools enable the company to offer the premier solutions in the industry.  For more information, please visit www.ctcorsearch.com.  

CT, a Wolters Kluwer business, provides the tools to help legal and financial professionals manage risk on many levels.  From managing corporate compliance to legal department performance; trademark protection to matter management; electronic data discovery to preparing cases for litigation, CT has the right solution to meet a host of needs.  CT is based in New York City.  For more information, please visit www.ctlegalsolutions.com.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer is a market-leading global information services company. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwer's leading, information-enabled tools and solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world.

Wolters Kluwer has 2009 annual revenues of euro 3.4 billion ($4.8 billion/3.0 billion pounds Sterling), employs approximately 19,300 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

Visit our website, YouTube or follow @Wolters_Kluwer on Twitter for more information about our customers, market positions, brands, and organization.

SOURCE CT Corsearch