concepts
introduction
purpose
audience
formulation
availability
registration

sample
purpose audience
formulation
verification

Name availability search
Once a name or two have been chosen, an availability search must be done to determine if it's taken. There are several things to keep in mind when doing an availability search. First, that there is no one registry where all names of businesses, corporations or service providers are kept. Although there is a federal registry and has supremacy, each state also has there own. Second, that a business, corporation or service provider is not required to register their name. Therefore a name may not appear on a registry but still be in use. Non-the-less a name search should be done to avoid any possible future conflicts. Lastly, if a name appears to be registered, it does not mean it cannot be used. Many names, although still found in registries, may no longer be in use or may have been abandoned. If a name appears as registered, further inquiries should be made as to its use since it may not be in use at all (Charmasson).

To do a search at the state level, the office of the Secretary of State must be contacted. This is easily done through the world wide web by doing a search for a specific states' web site and linking to their Secretary of State. From there, linking to the corporate or business page will lead to a link on registering a trademark where a search for names can be made. This may require the creation of a user account and a small fee. Another way is to contact the office of the Secretary of State by telephone and asking for help on doing a business name search. The telephone number can be found in a phone book under the government pages.

To do a search of federally registered names, the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office database must be accessed. This can be easily done online at http://www.uspto.gov/tmdb/index.html.