October 14, 2026
Search before you fall in love with a name. A trademark search, a broad internet search and a domain check will catch most conflicts, and a distinctive name is both less likely to infringe and easier to protect. Once the name clears, file a trademark application early, because a rebrand after launch costs far more than the filing fee.
Key takeaways
Start with five steps:
The question isn’t just whether the exact name is registered. Infringement turns on whether customers are likely to be confused, so a similar name for related goods or services can be a problem even if it is spelled differently. Unregistered brands also have rights where they are used, which is why the web search matters. A trademark lawyer can run a broader search across state registrations, common-law uses and international filings, and tell you how risky the results are.
Trademark law protects distinctive names. Made-up words (Kodak) and real words used in an unexpected way (Apple for computers) are the strongest. Suggestive names that hint at the product are usually fine. Descriptive or generic names, like “The Coffee Company” for a coffee shop, are weak: they are hard to register, hard to enforce and more likely to collide with someone else’s mark.
Stay well away from famous brands, even outside your industry. Famous marks get broader protection, and a name that echoes Nike or Adidas invites a dispute whatever you sell. Before you commit, also say the name out loud to people outside your team and check what it means in the languages of markets you may enter. That is a branding issue more than a legal one, but it is cheaper to catch now.
No. Registering “Acme, Inc.” with Delaware only means no other Delaware entity has that exact name. It gives you no trademark rights. A domain registration likewise gives you the URL, not the right to use the name in commerce. If your brand isn’t cleared yet, you can incorporate under a neutral legal name and adopt the brand later as a trade name.
File as soon as the name is final. You don’t have to wait until launch: an intent-to-use application reserves your priority date now, and you complete registration by showing use later (with an additional per-class fee at that stage). File in the classes covering what you will actually sell. Registration commonly takes a year or more from filing.
The USPTO base fee is $350 per class, with surcharges for applications that use free-form descriptions or lack required information. Attorney fees for the search and application are separate.
No. Trademark rights are territorial, so a US registration doesn’t protect you abroad. And unlike the US, where using a name builds some rights on its own, most countries give the mark to whoever files first, whether or not they have used it. If someone registers your name in a market before you do, you may have to buy it back, fight it or rebrand there.
Most startups file in the US first and extend later to the countries that matter: where you sell, manufacture or expect to expand. Filing abroad within six months of your US application can preserve your US priority date, so that window is the cheapest time to decide. The Madrid Protocol lets you extend a US application or registration to many countries through one filing, though for the first five years the foreign coverage depends on the US filing, so if the US application is narrowed or refused, the foreign coverage shrinks with it. An EU trade mark, filed with the EU Intellectual Property Office, covers all 27 EU member states in one registration. The UK left the EU system after Brexit and needs its own filing, directly or through Madrid. For one or two key markets, a direct national filing can also make sense.
Once the name is final, register your main domain and the obvious variations, including common misspellings and the country domains for your key markets, and keep them in a registrar account in the company’s name. Don’t try to buy the name in every new top-level domain; pick the few that customers could actually confuse with you. If someone registers a domain in bad faith to profit from your trademark, you usually don’t need to sue. The UDRP, an arbitration process that covers .com and the other generic top-level domains and some country domains, can order the domain transferred to you, and the faster Uniform Rapid Suspension process can suspend a clear-cut cybersquatting domain, mainly in the newer top-level domains. Both work best when you already have a registered trademark. If the current owner is using the name legitimately, buying it is usually the only route.
For more, see How Do Trademarks Work?, Trademark vs Copyright vs Patent and How Should I Prioritize Protecting Intellectual Property?
