A free domain doesn’t mean the name is yours

The most common naming mistake we see is treating domain availability as permission. A registrar will happily sell you a domain that matches someone else’s trademark. Registrars sell strings of letters; they don’t check rights.

Three systems, three answers

1. Domains tell you whether you can register an address. That’s all.
2. App stores tell you whether a published app already uses the name. Apple and Google can reject or bury apps whose names copy existing ones.
3. Trademarks tell you whether someone has rights to the name for certain goods and services. This is the one that can force a rename.

A real example

When we checked our own working name, Clearname, the .app, .io, .co and .dev domains were all free. Both app stores were empty. There was no US trademark for it. By the usual checks it looked fine.

But clearname.ai is a live software product called ClearName, selling AI reputation monitoring for $49 a month. It’s a different service, but it’s online software built around “your name”. Launching another software product with the same name invites confusion, and an existing seller can have rights from use alone.

So we changed it before launch. Renameproof had its .com free, nothing live under the name or its plural, both app stores clear, and no US trademark on the name or its main word. That last search mattered too: our runner-up, Doppelname, failed it, because a brand-protection company owns the DOPPEL trademark for software that researches domain and company names.

What to do instead

• Check several domain endings, then open the taken ones and see what is there.
• Search both app stores, in more than one country.
• Search the USPTO, and the EU and UK registers if you will sell there.
• Before spending real money, ask a trademark attorney for a clearance search.