Choosing and Clearing an Entity Name, Trade Name, and DBA: A Practitioner's Guide
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide fixes the ordering problem at the center of business naming: almost everyone forms the entity first and clears the trademark later, which is exactly backwards. It walks the correct sequence in twelve stages, from generating candidate names through the knockout search, the full search, the entity and DBA filings, the federal application, and the response if a demand letter arrives anyway. It covers name reservation, foreign qualification, restricted words, professional entity rules, and the assumed name statutes that can bar a business from suing on its own contracts. It gives the timing, the cost, and the decision rules at each fork, including when a state registration is the right answer and when it is a false comfort. Worked examples follow one business from name generation to federal registration. The companion article supplies the doctrine and the companion checklist the box-by-box form.
IP and Technology > Trademarks | Guide | Published 15 September 2023 - Updated 14 November 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide fixes the ordering problem at the center of business naming: almost everyone forms the entity first and clears the trademark later, which is exactly backwards. It walks the correct sequence in twelve stages, from generating candidate names through the knockout search, the full search, the entity and DBA filings, the federal application, and the response if a demand letter arrives anyway. It covers name reservation, foreign qualification, restricted words, professional entity rules, and the assumed name statutes that can bar a business from suing on its own contracts. It gives the timing, the cost, and the decision rules at each fork, including when a state registration is the right answer and when it is a false comfort. Worked examples follow one business from name generation to federal registration. The companion article supplies the doctrine and the companion checklist the box-by-box form.
Keywords: entity name clearance, DBA filing, trade name registration, name availability search, knockout search, formation sequencing, name reservation, foreign qualification, assumed name statute, state trademark registration, restricted words, professional entity naming, domain clearance, coexistence, demand letter response, rebranding, business license, Secretary of State, likelihood of confusion, brand selection
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