How do you use wildcards in search?

Which search term should I use in TESS?

• Using TESS, what is the search term I need to use? I need to find all the trandemarks that have 2 (or more) words, while the second word (or third, but not the first) starts with only one specific letter. for example: If I enter in TESS "HELLO W" Which wildcards should I use? I encounter some problems with the SPACE between the 'Hello' and the 'W. What I'm expecting to get, is: "Hello world" "Hello wild" "My Hello wired" "MyHello weird so" BUT NOT: "my hello so weird" Thanks a lot for your answer! -------------------------------- These search terms are not related to the question: Trademark, USPTO, TESS, ip,intellectual property. ----------------------------------

• Answer:

  Hello iptess-ga, and thanks for getting back to me so promptly. To start your search, head for the TESS page at: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=ruot1.1.1 and select: Free Form Search (Advanced Search) and enter the search phrase: ($hello-w$)[FM] The $ sign acts as the wildcard to find any terms that contain hello (as well the "hello" term itself) and to find words that being with "w" and then contain additional letters. The dash is needed to connect the words. Why did TESS require this obscure convention....? Who knows? But that may account for the problems you had with spaces. The [FM] restricts the search to the mark itself. Pressing "Submit Query" should (after a while!...this isn't the fastest search system) return about 20 records of the format [ hello w..... ] To expand the search a bit, GO BACK TO THE INITIAL SEARCH PAGE (dont' try to search from the Results page...it's very tempermental) and try adding an $ in the middle, like this: ($hello-$-w$)[FM] That should get you some additional search results with "hello" and "w...." near one another, but not necessarily adjacent. It's a persnickety system, so a bit of experimentation may be in order to get the best results for you particular needs. Before rating this answer, please let me know if you need any additional explanations or more information. I'll be happy to assist you further. Best of luck! pafalafa-ga search strategy: used existing bookmarks and my knowledge of the TESS system, and some playing around.