Search FAQ
FAQ: How to use the Search Engine?
The search engine should be user-friendly and intuitive, and where it is not, please blame the British Government of Mandate Palestine! We invite you to browse, explore, play, use, and share!
What are the overall trends?
In the Background section, we provide some overall trends. These include trademark applications over the years, the applicants’ countries of origin, and trademarks over the years in some industries.
Can I access the raw data?
Yes! If you wish to explore the raw data – you are more than welcome to do so. The underlying database is available for download here.
Do I need permissions?
The reconstructed database, raw data, and accompanying explanations are freely available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (all uses are permitted, but for commercial uses, attribution is required).
The suggested attribution is:
Michael Birnhack, Mandate Palestine’s Reconstructed Trademark Registry (1917-1948) (Tel Aviv University, 2023), available at https://en-law.tau.ac.il/MandatePalestineIP
How did we reconstruct the Mandate Registry?
The Methodology section provides a detailed description and explains how we addressed various challenges.
How to best search for a specific trademark application?
- By knowing the application number. This is a good start, but note the comments in the methodology section and the background section regarding renumbering trademarks. If an application was renumbered, this will show in the comments section of the search result.
- By knowing the applicant’s name. This is also a good start. Note that names may not be consistent: A person or company’s name may appear in several versions. We grouped them together where there was no doubt, e.g., “Michael Inc.” and “Michael Incorporated”, but where the names changed, we left them in the original form.
- By knowing the brand name or a unique feature of its contents. Try entering this information in the 'Description' field for your search. E.g., “crown”, “singer”, “oranges”.
- Some countries had only few applications, so searching for these countries may be more effective than specific searches.
I am only interested in Symbols and Logos. What should I search for?
You can search only by the "sign type": symbol, designed, or plain text, and any combination of those. Searching by any combination with symbols will show all the non-textual marks.
I am not sure about the spelling of applicant's name, country, or other search criteria
If you are unsure about the spelling of any of the search criteria, you can submit a general search ("application" will provide the entire data set), and then apply the search filters on the right of the results, and choose the desired criteria of the list.
Can I Search by specific Classes or kinds of products?
Yes! You can search trademarks according to the product they describe. You can do this search by two methods:
- If you know the class of product: you can search or filter your search results by the trade marks' classes. The full index of the classes is in the Methodology section. Note that there were two different classification methods through the mandatory period: from 1922 to 1940, and 1940 and onwards.
- If you don't know the class of product: search "kind of product / services". Note: the categorization was not part of the original mandate data, and is our making.
I am interested in Linguistic information. Can I Search by Language?
- You can search for trademarks in a specific language or a combination of languages. Submit an initial query, (“application” will provide the entire dataset), and then filter (on the right hand) according to the languages. Some signs used more than one language. For multiple languages, choose "multiple languages" in addition to the desired languages.
