USPTO TESS
USPTO Trademark Electronic Search System (now Trademark Search)
Definition
USPTO TESS — recently rebranded as Trademark Search — is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's free public database of every federal trademark application and registration. Anyone can search live registrations, pending applications, and dead marks by word, design code, owner, or serial number. It is the authoritative source for federal trademark status in the U.S.
Source overview
TESS (now branded Trademark Search) lets anyone query the U.S. federal trademark register at no cost. Results include the mark text, owner, filing date, registration date, status (live / dead / pending), Nice class(es), and the goods-and-services description. The system covers federal marks only — state and common-law marks are out of scope.
The underlying standard is paywalled or otherwise not directly reproducible here. The text above is a plain-language summary written by Slick Engineering — not a verbatim quote. Authoritative source linked below.
Technical detail
USPTO modernized TESS in 2023; the legacy URL still works but the recommended public entry point is now tmsearch.uspto.gov. Search syntax differs from the legacy system.
Critical limitation: TESS is federal-only. State trademark registers (each U.S. state runs its own) and common-law marks (unregistered, see common-law-trademark) are not indexed here. A complete clearance requires looking beyond TESS — which is why NameVerdict runs five additional lanes alongside the USPTO check.
Where it appears
- NameVerdict Used here
Lane 2 — the USPTO trademark check. Scoped to the user's Nice class. Returns serial numbers and live / dead status of matching marks.
Related terms
- Nice class
Nice Classification is the international system that organizes goods and services into 45 classes (1–34 for goods, 35–45 for services) for t…
- Common-law trademark
A common-law trademark is an unregistered mark that becomes enforceable through actual use in commerce, without any registration filing. Pro…