How to check if an app name is trademarked

A trademark search is the one naming check that can force a rename after launch. Domains and app store listings tell you what’s taken. The trademark registers tell you who has rights to a name, and for what.

You can do a good first search yourself in about fifteen minutes. Here is how we do it for every name we check by hand.

1. Search the US register

The USPTO’s free search is at tmsearch.uspto.gov. It replaced the old TESS system in 2023. Type your name and filter the status to live marks: registered marks, plus applications that are still pending. A pending application counts, because if it’s approved, its rights date back to the day it was filed.

Dead marks (abandoned or cancelled) don’t block you on their own, but a recently abandoned one is worth a look. The owner may still be trading under the name.

2. Look at the right classes

Every mark is registered for specific goods and services, grouped into 45 classes. Two businesses can own the same word in unrelated classes. For software, these are the ones to check first:

• Class 9: downloadable software, including mobile apps.
• Class 42: software as a service, hosted software and software development.
• The class for what your app actually does, for example 41 for education and entertainment, 36 for finance, 44 for health, or 35 for advertising and business services.

A mark in an unrelated class, say the same word registered for a brand of olive oil, is usually not a problem for a budgeting app. The same word registered for budgeting software is.

3. Search the variations, not just the exact name

Examiners and courts ask whether customers would be confused, and that turns on how names look, sound and what they mean, not just their exact spelling. So search for:

• Plurals and singulars: YourName and YourNames.
• Spelling variants and sound-alikes: YourName, YourNayme, UrName.
• The main word on its own, if your name has two parts. When we vetted names for this site, Doppelname looked clean, but DOPPEL is registered for software that researches domain and company names. The dominant word is what people remember.
• Marks with a logo: the search covers the words in design marks, so they show up too.

4. Check the other places you’ll sell

Apps sell worldwide from day one, and rights are national. If you’ll have users in Europe or the UK, search the EUIPO’s register (eSearch plus) and the UK IPO’s. WIPO’s Global Brand Database and TMview cover many countries in one search and are handy for a quick sweep.

5. Look beyond the registers

In the US, a business that uses a name can have rights without ever registering it. So a clean register search isn’t the end. Search the web, both app stores, and the .com for the name. Our wedding studio story is exactly this case: no trademark, but a live business in the same field.

If you find something

• A live mark, same or related field: treat the name as taken unless a trademark attorney tells you otherwise.
• A live mark in a clearly unrelated field: often fine, but note it and get a professional opinion before you spend money on the brand.
• Nothing at all: a good sign. If you plan to file your own application, the USPTO fee is $350 per class, so a software app filing in classes 9 and 42 costs $700 before any lawyer’s fees.

Renameproof’s free check covers domains, look-alike domains, both app stores, bundle IDs and live websites, and links to the official US, EU and UK trademark searches for your name. The hand-checked Launch Report adds a full search of the US, EU, UK and Indian registers, with the closest marks listed.