USPTO Trademark Checker for Bulk Phrases (Safe / Risky)

What is the USPTO Trademark Checker?

It is an Apify Actor that checks slogans, names and keywords against live US trademarks and returns one verdict per phrase. Check hundreds of slogans, names and keywords against live US trademarks before you print them. You get one clear verdict per phrase, so you don't have to read raw search results.

Built for print-on-demand sellers on Amazon Merch, Etsy, Redbubble, Printful, TeePublic and Shopify, and for anyone naming a product.

The verdicts

Verdict	Meaning
BLOCKED	A live trademark has exactly this wording in a class you sell in. Don't print it.
RISKY	A live mark contains your phrase, or sits inside it (two or more words), in your classes. Read the listed matches.
CAUTION	An identical live mark exists, but only in classes you didn't select.
CLEAR	No live mark with this wording in your classes.

Every row lists the closest live marks: wording, how it relates to your phrase, status, registered or pending, owner, serial and registration numbers, classes, filing date, goods, and a link to the USPTO record.

What makes it useful

• Sub-phrase detection. "Dog Mom Est 2020" is checked against marks like "DOG MOM" and "EST 2020", not just the full string. Most checkers only look for the exact text.
• Your classes only. Trademarks only conflict inside the classes they were filed for. Pick apparel, mugs, bags, phone cases and so on, and an identical mark in an unrelated class is shown as CAUTION instead of BLOCKED.
• Forgiving about punctuation. "dont stop believing" finds the mark "DON'T STOP BELIEVING". The USPTO index misses it without the apostrophe, so this Actor searches both spellings.
• Live and pending marks, not dead ones. Abandoned and cancelled marks are ignored, so you aren't warned off phrases that are free.
• One charge per distinct phrase. Capitalisation, punctuation and duplicates are collapsed before anything is billed.

How to check phrases for trademarks before you print them

1. Paste your slogans or keywords into Phrases to check, one per line.
2. Pick the product classes you sell in: 25 for clothing, 21 for mugs, 9 for phone cases, and so on.
3. Click Start.
4. Sort the results by verdict. Print the CLEAR ones, read the matches for the RISKY ones, and drop the BLOCKED ones.
5. Download JSON, CSV or Excel, or call the Actor through the API from your listing tools.

Input

{
    "phrases": ["just do it", "dog mom", "coffee before talkie"],
    "classes": ["25", "21"],
    "includeOwners": true
}

• phrases: up to 10,000 per run, 120 characters each.
• classes: the product classes you sell in. 25 is clothing. Leave empty to check every class.
• maxMatchesPerPhrase: how many closest marks to list.
• includeOwners: owner names are public USPTO records. Turn off if you only want the verdict.

Output

One dataset row per phrase with verdict, reason, exactMatchesInClasses, relatedMatchesInClasses, exactMatchesOtherClasses, liveMarksFound and matches. A SUMMARY record gives the verdict counts for the run.

How much does a trademark check cost?

You pay per distinct phrase checked, plus a tiny start fee. There is no subscription, and duplicates are only charged once.

Phrases	Approximate cost
10	$0.20
100	$2
1,000	$20

Paid Apify plans get tiered discounts, and you can set a maximum cost per run. You can try it on Apify's free plan without a card.

Who is it for?

Print-on-demand sellers on Amazon Merch, Etsy, Redbubble, Printful, TeePublic and Shopify; designers who sell slogans; founders and agencies naming products.

Frequently asked questions

Is a CLEAR result safe to print? Not guaranteed. It means no live US federal mark with this wording was found in your classes. See the notes below.

Why does "dog mom" come back RISKY? Because live marks such as "CERTIFIED DOG MOM" in clothing contain it. The match list shows which ones, who owns them, and whether they are registered or pending.

Which classes should I pick? Class 25 covers shirts, hoodies and hats. Use 21 for mugs, 18 for bags, 9 for phone cases, 16 for stickers and posters. Leave it empty to check every class.

Does it work offline of USPTO? No. It queries the public USPTO trademark search, so results are as current as USPTO's records, which are loaded daily.

Read this

• This is a screening aid, not legal advice. A CLEAR verdict does not guarantee you are safe.
• It covers live US federal records only. It does not cover state marks, other countries, unregistered "common-law" use, or look-alike wording such as misspellings and sound-alikes.
• Famous names and slogans can be protected even where no identical mark is registered in your class (dilution). Be careful with well-known brands.
• If a phrase matters to your business, have a trademark attorney or the USPTO's own search confirm it.
• Data comes from the public USPTO trademark search. If USPTO changes its response format the run fails with an error instead of returning empty results, and the Actor is health-checked every night.