"Tradename" and "trademark" are sometime used interchangeably, but you
have used the term correctly so I will assume that you indeed mean
"tradename," as in "the name of a business," as opposed to
"trademark," which may or may not be a business name and more commonly
denotes a form of commercial identification for a product. Having
said that, one of the best means of searching for tradenames in the
United States is to use switchboard.com. Use the "Find a Business"
search feature and search for your proposed tradename to see if anyone
else is using it. (By your question, I presume you mean that you want
to search for other persons using your new tradename before you go
live with it, no? That is an excellent idea.) And of course, you can
always Google your new tradename and see what comes up.
If you are in the United States, the trademark search facility at
www.uspto.gov provides lists of registered US trademarks and pending
registration applications. It is not a bad idea to also search for
your tradename there as a double check of your switchboard.com and
Google results. |
