How do you find if a name for a corp. is available?

Question

I am looking to see if the name I want for my company is taken. How do I find this info out?

My idea for a company name has been registered as a .com, but there is no whois info and no trademark for the name. It looks like there is no such corp or LLC as well. If I set-up the Corp and trademark it, whoever has the dot-com has to turn that over to me right?

Answer 1

You go to the Secretary of State website, and they often have Business Name searches available. Check the name you want. You can use a business name as long as it is the only name in your state, even if another business is using it in another state.

Be careful though and check if the name is trademarked at USPTO http://www.uspto.gov

Answer 2

I listed some links where you can do some preliminary name checking. However, please be aware that this is merely scratching the surface of what's out there.

Only comprehensive research will tell you if the name is truly available. But, these links are free & a great place to start, so I'd try them out first.

Comprehensive research consists of looking at marks that are similar in Sound, Appearance or Meaning in the pending & registered Federal AND State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files.

There are other sites that offer free searching capabilities in conjunction with their commercial services, so I'm not able to post those links due to the Yahoo! TOS. You'll also want to check domain names & yellow pages, so simply do a search for "free domain name search" and "national yellowpages" and the appropriate links will pop up.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!