Business Services / Trademarks
Trademark Search & Protection
Comprehensive USPTO and state-level trademark searches before you file.
About trademark search & protection
Registering a company name with a Secretary of State tells you the name is available as an entity name in that one state. It tells you nothing about whether someone else already owns the brand nationally. Those are separate systems, and businesses routinely discover the difference only after printing signage and buying a domain.
A trademark search looks for conflicts before you commit. The bar is not identical names — it's likelihood of confusion, which covers phonetic equivalents, alternate spellings, translations, and design marks used on related goods or services. A search that only checks for an exact string match will miss most of what actually blocks an application.
Our search covers the USPTO federal register, including pending applications, plus state registers and common-law usage. The result is a report showing what exists, how close it sits to your mark, and which classes of goods and services the conflicts occupy — the information you need before spending on an application that can be refused with no refund of the government filing fee.
What's included
Federal USPTO register search
Live registrations plus pending applications that could block yours.
Similar-mark analysis
Phonetic equivalents, alternate spellings, and design marks — not just exact string matches.
State register review
State-level trademark registrations that federal-only searches miss.
Class-by-class findings
Which goods and services classes each conflict occupies, since rights are class-specific.
Written report to your vault
The findings are delivered as a PDF you can review with counsel before filing.
Trademarks questions, answered
Why search before filing?
USPTO filing fees are non-refundable. If an examining attorney refuses your application over a prior confusingly similar mark, that money is gone and you've published your intent to use the name.
Isn't a Google search enough?
No. Google won't show pending applications, state registrations, or marks that are spelled differently but sound alike — which are exactly the ones that cause refusals.
Does forming an LLC protect my brand name?
No. Entity registration is one state's naming database. Trademark rights are separate, class-based, and can be national.
Do you file the trademark application?
The search is a research service that tells you whether filing is viable. Filing strategy — including class selection and specimen requirements — is worth reviewing with a trademark attorney once the report is in hand.