You've found the perfect .com. It's short, brandable, available, and sitting in your cart for $11.99. Before you click "Register," there's a five-minute check that might save you from a $15,000 rebrand and an awkward email from a trademark attorney.
Buying a domain is the easy part. Trademarks are about using a name in commerce — and that's exactly what your startup is about to do. A registered trademark in your industry beats your domain registration almost every time, no matter who paid first. This guide walks you through the exact 2026 process.
Two things changed. First, the AI boom flooded the trademark office with new filings — USPTO software-class filings have grown sharply since 2023, and the result is a much denser thicket of registered names in tech categories. Second, automated trademark monitoring services are now cheap, which means more brand-holders run continuous scans for confusing matches. The old "they probably won't notice us" plan has a much shorter half-life.
The good news: the search tools also got better. You can do a credible first-pass check yourself in the time it takes to drink a coffee.
Before any database, do this:
"acmebot" SaaS, "acmebot" AI, "acmebot" software.site:linkedin.com/company "acmebot" — this surfaces operating companies even if they haven't filed a trademark yet.site:producthunt.com "acmebot" and site:ycombinator.com "acmebot".If you see an active product in your same category — even a small one — stop here. Move on. Trademark rights can attach to use in commerce even without registration in many jurisdictions, and "they're tiny" isn't a defense; it's the start of an expensive distraction.
Now run the formal check. These four cover roughly 90% of the world's filed trademarks:
| Database | Coverage | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| USPTO TESS / Trademark Search | U.S. registered + pending | Search your exact mark and the "sounds like" variants. Filter by Class 9 (software) and Class 42 (SaaS / cloud services). |
| EUIPO TMview | EU member states | Aggregates national trademark offices into one search. Great for a fast Europe sweep. |
| WIPO Global Brand DB | ~75 countries combined | Catches international registrations the U.S. and EU databases miss — especially Asian markets. |
| UK IPO + Canadian CIPO | UK, Canada | Common-law jurisdictions where unregistered "passing-off" rights matter; quick supplementary check. |
For each database, search three things, not just one:
You'll find something. The question is whether that something is a real conflict. The legal phrase is "likelihood of confusion," and trademark examiners weigh several factors:
If a registered mark exists in your same business class and the names rhyme or share three or more letters in the same order, treat it as a conflict and find a new name. If it's a different class, you usually have room — but check with a trademark attorney before launch.
A common mistake: founders find a clean trademark search on a name, get excited, and only then check the domain — by which point the .com is parked at $14,000. Run both checks in parallel, not in sequence. We built the free TinyTools Domain Generator exactly to compress this loop: type your concept, and it returns brandable, available domains you can take to the trademark databases in one tab while another keeps your shortlist alive.
Avoid the "trademarked plus parked" trap by starting with names that aren't already taken anywhere.
Try the Domain Generator free →Your DIY check is enough to filter out the obvious disasters. It is not a clearance opinion. Hire a trademark attorney before you do any of these:
A flat-fee trademark search and clearance from a U.S. attorney typically runs $300–$1,200 in 2026. A search-plus-application package is usually $800–$2,000 plus the USPTO filing fee. Compare that to the cost of rebranding after seed: domain repurchase, new logo work, redirect setup, customer comms, and lost SEO equity. Plenty of founders pay 30x what an upfront search would have cost.
Trademark rights in the U.S. attach to "use in commerce," but a federal registration via an "intent to use" application can lock in a priority date even before launch. Once your candidate name passes the four-database sweep:
.com immediately. If .com is gone, follow our 2026 guide on TLD strategy for startups.You trademark the brand, not the domain string. example.com isn't a trademark; "Example" used as your brand identifier in commerce is. The .com portion is treated as non-distinctive and stripped during examination.
If you started using it in commerce first, you usually have prior common-law rights in your geographic area. Document your launch dates, marketing spend, and customer activity. This is exactly why a launch screenshot saved on the day you go live is worth more than people realize.
Probably, but check whether the original holder still uses the name commercially. Trademark rights can survive a lapsed registration if the holder kept selling under the brand. When in doubt, attorney.
No. File where you operate or plan to operate within 36 months. A Madrid Protocol filing through WIPO lets you extend to 130+ countries from one base application — but it's only worth doing once you have meaningful international revenue.
If this checked out for your candidate, you're in better shape than 80% of founders. If it didn't, the fastest recovery is to generate a fresh shortlist and rerun the same checks — most names that survive a thorough trademark sweep on attempt #2 or #3 actually end up better than the one you started with, because the constraints force originality.
The TinyTools Domain Generator filters for available, brandable, short candidates so the names you take to TESS aren't already gone.
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