How Do You Check Whether a Trademark Is Available Before You File?

Choosing a name is the cheapest time to avoid a dispute. Our main copyright and trademark law page explains what registration gives you once the name is clear. The search matters for two reasons. The USPTO's examining attorney will search the federal database for conflicting marks whether or not you did, and the USPTO says it does not refund filing fees if your mark is not registered. Beyond the USPTO, the agency warns that a clearance search helps you avoid a refusal, an opposition or cancellation, or an infringement lawsuit, which it calls "costly and time-consuming" issues. Our post on how to register a trademark in 8 steps shows where the search fits in the whole process.

How a Trademark Clearance Search Works, Step by Step

1. Pin down the mark and the goods. Write the exact name, any logo, and the goods or services, using the wording in the USPTO's Trademark ID Manual.
2. Run a knockout search. In the USPTO's trademark search system, search the combined mark field for your exact wording; the USPTO calls this a "knock-out search," and says not to stop there.
3. Expand the wording. Search for marks that contain your words with other characters around them, alternative spellings and pronunciations, and strong words on their own and in combination.
4. Search the design. Look up each prominent element of a logo in the Design Search Code Manual and search by design code.
5. Review live marks closely, and dead ones briefly. Only live filings can block your registration, but dead ones may still be in use.
6. Search outside the federal database. State registers, business name records, domain registries and the internet for unregistered users.
7. Judge each hit on two questions. Is the mark similar, and are the goods or services related? A yes to both is a risk.

What Is the Difference Between a Knockout and a Comprehensive Search?

A knockout search is the quick first pass: the exact wording, in the federal database. The USPTO uses the term for searching the combined mark field for exact wording, such as CM:uspto, and its advice is to start narrow, because a first query can uncover a clearly conflicting mark and save hours of research. If someone already owns the identical mark for the same or related goods, you have your answer.

A comprehensive clearance search means "checking a variety of resources to determine whether your trademark conflicts with other existing trademarks," in the USPTO's words. On its own clearance search page, the agency lists the federal database, the Official Gazette, state trademark and business registries, domain name registries, the Madrid Monitor, WIPO's Global Brand Database, the EUIPO's TMview and internet search engines. At a minimum, it says to check the federal database and the Official Gazette and search the internet for common-law use. It also notes that private search firms supply results without analyzing them, so someone still has to judge each hit.

What Does the Federal Database Miss?

Unregistered users. Trademark rights in the United States come from use: the USPTO says common-law rights are based solely on using a mark in commerce with specific goods or services, and may affect your federal rights if that use began earlier than yours. The statute builds this in. The USPTO can refuse a mark that so resembles "a mark or trade name previously used in the United States by another and not abandoned" as to be likely to cause confusion (15 U.S.C. 1052(d)), and an unregistered owner can sue over confusing use under 15 U.S.C. 1125(a).

Dead records also deserve a look. The USPTO says only live filings can block your registration, but dead ones "can present other legal problems if they're still being used in commerce," and an owner can sometimes use common-law rights against you even if you have a federal registration and they do not. State registers are separate again. The Georgia Secretary of State's office says it does not search federal or other states' trademark records, and our page comparing common law, Georgia and federal trademark rights explains how far each one reaches.

Do Business Names, Domains and Social Handles Count?

They are evidence of use, not trademark rights in themselves. Forming an LLC or corporation reserves a name on a state's entity records, but the Georgia Secretary of State says a trademark registration does not stop someone from forming an entity or registering a trade name under the same name. Entity records alone do not show who holds trademark rights. Check the state's business entity search anyway: an active company with your name, selling related goods, is a likely common-law user.

The same goes for domain names and social media handles. The USPTO's clearance page points to domain name registries, and a quick search of the platforms where you plan to sell will show whether someone is already building a brand under the name. If you end up in a fight over a domain registered in bad faith, our page on recovering a cybersquatted domain covers that route.

How Do You Read the Results for Related Goods?

Similar marks are generally a problem when the goods or services are related, which is how identical marks can coexist for very different products; the USPTO's example is Dove for soap and for ice cream bars. Goods or services may be related, the USPTO says, if they are "used or sold together, used by the same purchasers, advertised together, or sold by the same manufacturer or dealer," and "they don't have to be in the same international class to be related." Its examination manual treats the similarity of the marks and the relatedness of the goods as the two key factors (TMEP 1207.01).

That is why the USPTO warns against narrowing a search by international class. Our page on choosing trademark classes explains what the class number does and does not control. Instead, it offers coordinated classes, which group classes whose goods are closely related. Its example: clothing in Class 25 is coordinated with jewelry in Class 14, handbags in Class 18 and retail store services in Class 35. The list also coordinates Class 9 (electrical and scientific apparatus) with Class 41 (education and entertainment services), which matters for the issues on our page about trademarking a band or artist name. For how examiners weigh close cases, see our page on responding to a likelihood-of-confusion refusal.

How Do You Search for a Similar Logo?

By design code. The USPTO's system does not allow reverse image searching, so designs are found through six-digit design search codes: two digits for the category, such as animals, two for the division, such as birds, and two for the section, such as eagles. You look up each prominent element in the Design Search Code Manual, search each code on its own, use wildcards to broaden it, and combine codes to narrow the results. The USPTO's example is DC:050101 for evergreen trees, broadened to DC:0501?? for all trees and bushes.

Similarity can cross the line between words and pictures. The USPTO notes that a design of a bird in your mark and the word "bird" in another mark might be found similar, so search the words your logo depicts too. Whether the logo needs its own filing is covered on our page about protecting a logo with a trademark or a copyright.

What Should You Do With a Close Hit?

Open the record in TSDR and check four things: whether it is live, who owns it, exactly which goods or services it lists, and whether there are signs it is still used. Then weigh it. The USPTO says that if a conflicting mark is registered, it will refuse your application, and that a likelihood-of-confusion refusal "can be difficult or impossible to overcome." If the conflicting mark is in an earlier pending application, the USPTO will suspend yours until the other one is decided.

Your choices are usually to change the name, change or narrow what you will sell under it, seek a coexistence or consent agreement with the owner, or, where a registration appears unused, consider a nonuse challenge; the USPTO's expungement proceeding can be requested 3 to 10 years after registration, at $400 per class. If the owner has already filed against you, see our page on what to do when someone files for your brand. If a demand letter has arrived, read what to do after a trademark cease and desist letter.

How Should You Document the Search?

Keep a dated record: each query you ran, which sources you checked, the marks you reviewed and why you set each aside. The USPTO's search system can show a numbered history of your queries in a session, which makes the list easy to save. The record can help if you later need to show how the name was chosen, and it saves the next search from starting over. Remember that a search is a snapshot: the USPTO says searching "can't give you a clear-cut answer" about registrability, and new applications can be filed at any time, so search again right before you file.

What Changes the Answer

• How strong your mark is. A coined word may draw fewer close hits than a common word or a description of the goods. A descriptive name also risks a refusal of its own; see what happens when the USPTO calls a mark merely descriptive. If the close hit is someone else’s pending application and you own the earlier registration, see letters of protest.
• Where you sell. Selling abroad adds the Madrid Monitor, WIPO's Global Brand Database and TMview to the list.
• Whether you use a logo. Designs need a design code search; words alone do not.
• The status of the conflicting mark. A registered mark brings a refusal; an earlier pending application brings a suspension; a dead record may still mean an active user.
• Common-law use near you. Your filing date's nationwide priority does not reach someone who used the mark before you filed and has not abandoned it (15 U.S.C. 1057(c)).

A Worked Example

Common Mistakes

• Stopping at the knockout search. The USPTO's own guidance says not to.
• Filtering by international class. Related goods often sit in other classes; use coordinated classes instead.
• Ignoring dead records. They cannot block registration, but the owner may still be using the name.
• Treating an LLC filing as clearance. Entity records do not show who has trademark rights.
• Searching only the words in a logo. Designs are searched by design code.
• Searching once and filing months later. New applications can be filed at any time; search again before you file.

What to Do This Week

1. Write down the mark, any logo, and the goods or services, using ID Manual wording.
2. Run the knockout search in the USPTO's trademark search system.
3. Run expanded searches for alternate spellings, sound-alikes and combined terms.
4. If you have a logo, find its design codes and search them.
5. Search the Georgia and other state records, entity names, domains and the internet.
6. Save every query and result with its date, and budget for filing, starting at $350 per class.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the USPTO Search for You Before You File?

No. The USPTO says it cannot tell you how to search your particular mark, though its Trademark Assistance Center answers general questions and Patent and Trademark Resource Centers can show you how to use the database.

Does a Clean Search Mean the Mark Will Register?

No. The USPTO says that even with no conflicting live marks, the application must still meet every other legal requirement for registration, and it will not register if it falls short.

Do You Get Your Filing Fee Back If the Mark Is Refused?

No. The USPTO does not refund filing fees if your mark is not registered. Our page on what a federal trademark costs sets out the fees.

Is Searching a Name in Google Enough?

It is one part. The USPTO encourages internet searches for common-law use, but its minimum also includes the federal database and the Official Gazette, and a comprehensive search adds state and other records.

Should You Hire Someone to Search?

The USPTO suggests considering a private trademark attorney, who can run a clearance search and interpret the results, and it notes that search firms only supply results. Either way, someone has to judge each hit against your goods.

What If the Conflicting Application Was Filed Before Yours?

The USPTO will suspend your application until the earlier one is registered or abandoned. If it registers, your application will be refused.

Zala IP Law runs and interprets trademark clearance searches for businesses and creators across the United States and internationally, before they spend money on a name. If you are about to commit to a brand, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701, and bring the name, any logo and a list of what you plan to sell.