USPTO Trademark Checker for Print-on-Demand

Check hundreds of t-shirt phrases, slogans and product names against live USPTO trademarks in one run — before you upload designs to Merch by Amazon, Etsy, Redbubble, Teepublic, Spring or Shopify.

Each phrase gets a clear risk verdict plus the exact trademarks that conflict with it, filtered to the product classes you actually sell (clothing by default).

Why use it

• Avoid takedowns and account strikes. Amazon Merch and Etsy remove listings — and can suspend accounts — for trademarked phrases. One check costs a fraction of a cent.
• Bulk, not one-by-one. Paste up to 5,000 phrases per run instead of searching the USPTO site manually.
• Class-aware. A phrase trademarked for restaurants isn't the same risk as one trademarked for t-shirts. Defaults to class 25 (clothing); add mugs (21), stickers (16), phone cases (9) and more.
• Catches partial conflicts. Flags marks that contain your phrase, marks that appear inside your phrase, and the same words in a different order — not just exact hits.
• Ignores cancelled classes. A mark that's still live but whose clothing class was cancelled won't trip a false alarm.
• Official data. Results come straight from the USPTO's own trademark search database, live at run time.

Risk levels

Risk	Meaning
HIGH	A live trademark exactly matches the phrase — or uses the same words in a different order — in the selected classes. Don't use it.
MEDIUM	A live trademark contains your phrase, or a multi-word live mark appears inside it. Review before using.
LOW	Only single-word live marks appear inside the phrase (e.g., a common word). Usually fine, but glance at the list.
NONE_FOUND	No live matching marks in the selected classes.

Input

Field	Description
phrases	Phrases to check, one per line (up to 5,000).
classes	International classes to check. Default ["25"].
allClasses	Check every class instead (brand-name clearance).
liveOnly	Only registered + pending marks (default on).
maxMatchesPerPhrase	How many conflicts to list per phrase (default 10).

Common print-on-demand classes

Class	Products
25	T-shirts, hoodies, hats, socks — all clothing
21	Mugs, tumblers, drinkware
16	Stickers, posters, notebooks, prints
9	Phone cases, laptop sleeves
18	Tote bags, backpacks
24	Blankets, towels
20	Pillows
28	Toys, games, puzzles
14	Jewelry, keychains

Example input

{
  "phrases": ["Mama Bear", "Coffee Lover", "Good Vibes Only", "Pickleball Addict"],
  "classes": ["25", "21"],
  "liveOnly": true
}

Output

One row per phrase. The Risk overview table shows the verdict at a glance; the full JSON includes every conflicting mark.

{
  "phrase": "Mama Bear",
  "risk": "HIGH",
  "summary": "2 live trademark(s) exactly match this phrase.",
  "exactMatches": 2,
  "reorderedMatches": 0,
  "marksContainingPhrase": 5,
  "marksInsidePhrase": 0,
  "moreMatchesLikely": false,
  "topMatch": "MAMA BEAR",
  "topMatchOwner": "Example Apparel LLC",
  "matches": [
    {
      "wordmark": "MAMA BEAR",
      "matchType": "EXACT",
      "status": "REGISTERED",
      "live": true,
      "serialNumber": "88123456",
      "registrationNumber": "6012345",
      "classes": ["IC 025"],
      "owner": "Example Apparel LLC",
      "filedDate": "2019-03-01",
      "registrationDate": "2020-04-14",
      "goodsAndServices": "IC 025: Shirts; T-shirts; Sweatshirts...",
      "tsdrUrl": "https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=88123456&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch"
    }
  ],
  "classesChecked": ["IC 025"],
  "liveMarksOnly": true,
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-20T22:15:00+00:00"
}

Export to CSV, Excel or JSON, or pull results through the Apify API.

Pricing

$3 per 1,000 phrases checked ($0.003 each). You're charged once per phrase, however many conflicts it has. Set a maximum cost per run in Apify and the actor stops cleanly when it's reached.

Automate it

• Schedule a weekly run on your existing catalog to catch new filings against designs you already sell.
• API / Make / Zapier / n8n: send new phrases from your design pipeline and only publish the ones that come back NONE_FOUND or LOW.

Limitations

• Checks US (USPTO) trademarks only.
• Text-based matching. It doesn't evaluate logos/design marks or "likelihood of confusion" for sound-alikes and different spellings beyond what USPTO indexes.
• Not legal advice. A clear result lowers risk but doesn't guarantee a phrase is free to use. For anything important, talk to a trademark attorney.