Trademarks with a phrase and NO graphic

Use the USPTO's TESS database to search for trademarks.

  1. Start at https://www.uspto.gov
  2. Click on "search trademarks (TESS)"
  3. Click on "Structured Form Search (Boolean) " (provides more search options than the "Basic Search" mode).
  4. Type in your words or phrase, selecting the Basic Index in the pull down search menu. If you are searching an entire phrase, you might wish to enclose your phrase in quotations to ensure your results are more relevant. For example "Tastes Great Lose Weight" yields one result, while typing in Tastes Great Lose Weight (without quotation marks) yields several thousand.

Keep in Mind:

  • Your trademark can be denied if there is an active trademark in the same line of business that could be easily confused. So, just because there is no exact match does not mean that your trademark will be issued.
  • Think creatively. For example, if you wanted to trademark "EZ Cheese" to be used for products, you might also want to search "Easy Cheese", "Easy and Cheesy", etc. The more distinct your phrase, the better chance you have to receive a trademark.