Trademark Clearance Search
The pre-filing investigation that identifies conflicts across federal, state, and common law sources before you commit to a mark.
What Is a Clearance Search?
A trademark clearance search is the comprehensive investigation you conduct before filing a trademark application to determine whether your proposed mark is available for use and registration. The term "clearance" refers to the goal: clearing a mark for use by confirming it does not conflict with existing rights.
The USPTO itself recommends comprehensive clearance searching before filing, identifying three categories: the federal trademark database, state registers, and common law sources.
Why Clearance Matters
Filing without a clearance search risks a Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusal (the most common ground for refusal), an opposition proceeding, or a trademark infringement lawsuit. Each costs significantly more to resolve than a pre-filing search.
Components
Federal register. Live, pending, and dead marks with advanced matching.
State registers. All 50 states — marks enforceable within their state.
Common law. Business filings, domain records, social media, and web use.
Attorney analysis. Each conflict evaluated against the DuPont factors with risk levels assigned.
Three tiers. One standard of rigor.
- Federal + state + common law search
- Risk-ranked results
- Delivered in 2 business days
- Everything in Search Only
- Written attorney opinion letter
- Go / no-go recommendation
- Everything in Search + Opinion
- 60-minute attorney consultation
- Fee credited toward registration