Trademark Search Worksheet

A free step-by-step worksheet for running your own clearance search before you file. Covers the federal database, the variations most people never search, state registers, and the common-law use that never appears in any database at all.

Why a worksheet rather than a guide

Searching properly is a process, not a single lookup. The worksheet gives you somewhere to record what you searched and what came back, which matters because the value is in the pattern rather than any single result.

It also keeps you honest. Most self-searches stop at the exact spelling, find nothing, and conclude the name is clear. That tests the wrong question.

What you will work through

• The federal database at tmsearch.uspto.gov, which replaced the older TESS system in November 2023.
• Phonetic equivalents and common misspellings, because marks that sound alike conflict.
• The same idea expressed in different words, since meaning is compared as well as spelling.
• Related goods and services, not just identical ones — relatedness is where most refusals actually come from.
• State trademark registers, which the federal database does not include.
• Common-law users with unregistered rights, who appear in no register but can still block you.

What it does not do

It does not give you a legal opinion, and the standard the USPTO applies is likelihood of confusion, which is a judgment rather than a lookup. If the worksheet turns up something ambiguous, that ambiguity is exactly what an attorney opinion is for.

Why searching your exact name proves almost nothing

• The USPTO does not ask whether your mark is identical to an existing one. It asks whether your mark, used on your goods, is likely to cause confusion with an earlier mark. Those are very different questions, and the second one is much broader.
• Marks conflict on sound, so a different spelling is no protection. They conflict on meaning, so a translation or a synonym can conflict. They conflict across related goods, so a mark registered for something you do not sell can still block you if consumers would assume a common source.
• Then there is common law. Trademark rights in the United States arise from use, not registration. A business that has traded under your name for fifteen years without ever registering it has rights that outrank a later registration in its own trading area — and it appears in no database you can search.
• This is why the worksheet is a process rather than a lookup. Each step catches a category of conflict the previous step missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is the USPTO trademark search free?

Yes. The Trademark Search system is publicly available at no cost, and running it is a sensible first step for anyone.

If I find nothing, am I clear to file?

Not necessarily. Finding nothing means you found nothing where you looked. Common-law users and related-goods conflicts are the two things a self-search misses most often.