--- title: "Trademark Clearance | Pitch, European law firm" description: "Can you use the name, and can you register it? A clearance search answers both, with a signed opinion that rates each risk and tells you what to do." url: https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-clearance --- [pitch](https://pitch.law/) [Solutions](https://pitch.law/solutions) [Intellectual Property](https://pitch.law/solution-categories/intellectual-property) # Trademark Clearance Can you use the name, and can you register it? A clearance search answers both, with a signed opinion that rates each risk and tells you what to do. Usually within one working day, at a fixed fee. - - By [Bart Lieben](https://pitch.law/team/bart-lieben), Attorney-at-Law - 4 July 2025 - 360 stage: Create ## The question You have a new name for a company, a product or a service, and you are about to spend money on it. Design, packaging, a website, a campaign. Before you do, you want to know two things. Can you use the name without someone stopping you on the basis of an earlier right? And can you register it? An identical name is only the obvious risk. A mark that sounds like an earlier one, or that means the same thing in another language, can be enough for an opposition, a refusal or a letter from a competitor's lawyer. Rebranding after launch costs far more than checking first. Our Academy explains [what a clearance search is, and what it is not](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained). Start-ups choosing a company or product name come to us. So do agencies about to present a shortlist to a client, and established businesses taking a brand into a new product line or country. Sometimes the trigger is a letter from a competitor, and the question is how exposed you are. The depth of the work varies. The questions don't. ## Our approach We work in stages. An attorney signs off each stage before the next one starts. We begin with the brief: the name or logo, the goods and services, and the countries where you plan to trade. Then absolute grounds. Is the sign descriptive, generic, or unregistrable for some other reason? We check that in all 24 official EU languages, because under Article 7(2) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation a ground that exists in only part of the Union is enough to block an EU trade mark. Next, the search itself, through [our clearance engine](https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions). It covers the trademark and design registers of close to a hundred IP offices. Earlier rights are not only on registers, so it also checks domain names, the open web, social media handles, online marketplaces and company registers. Then relative grounds. We score each hit for visual, phonetic and conceptual similarity, compare the goods and services, and look for conflicts across classes of the [Nice classification](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained). How those factors are weighed is set out in [understanding trademark similarity](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity). If an earlier owner might be open to a conversation, we also check for existing coexistence agreements. You choose the depth. A quick check is enough for an early idea or a shortlist. A preliminary search fits a name you are leaning towards. Full clearance is for a brand you will invest heavily in, or launch in several markets at once. Still choosing between candidates? We can first screen them linguistically in 36 languages, so you don't clear a name that means something unfortunate somewhere. A clearance search with our advice usually takes one working day, at a fixed fee. We work with a range of AI models, including models we trained and fine-tuned ourselves, on our own infrastructure. That is where the speed comes from. Every result is checked and signed off by one of our lawyers or patent attorneys. ## What you get A structured clearance opinion. Each conflict is listed with its risk level, our reasoning, and the arguments on both sides. The opinion ends with a recommendation: go ahead; go ahead with changes (a different spelling, narrower goods and services, another class); go ahead and watch; or don't use the name. If you have several candidates, a comparison report in Word, Excel or PDF puts them side by side. Useful when a marketing team has to pick one of three. This is advice on risk, not a guarantee. A search finds what is on the registers and the web at that moment, and a favourable result does not bind someone who files later. If the opinion is favourable, you can go straight to [filing](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing), with the goods and services we cleared carried over into the application. ## Next step Send us the name, the goods and services and the countries that matter, and tell us how far along the project is. We will suggest the depth that fits. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule) or [contact us](https://pitch.law/contact-us). ## In short - Three depths: quick check, preliminary search, full clearance - Registers, domain names, social handles and marketplaces in one report - Visual, phonetic and conceptual similarity assessed - Absolute grounds checked in all 24 official EU languages - Opinion signed off by an attorney, with a recommendation ## Technology we use - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions) ### [Trademark Clearance Search](https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions) [Our clearance engine takes a name from intake to a signed opinion. It tests absolute grounds, searches registers and the web, and scores every conflict. An attorney signs off each step.](https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions) - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing) ### [Trademark Filing](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing) [Our filing technology prepares EUIPO, BOIP and WIPO applications in one flow. An EUIPO or Benelux filing is usually done within one working day, at a fixed fee. Nothing is filed without an attorney's sign-off.](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing) ## Background reading - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained) ### [What Is a Trademark Clearance Search?](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained) [A clearance search checks, before you file or launch, whether earlier rights stand in the way of a new mark. This article explains what it covers, what it cannot do and how to read the result.](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity) ### [Understanding Trademark Similarity](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity) [Whether two marks conflict depends on how similar they are and how close the goods are. This article explains the test and how its elements are weighed.](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained) ### [Nice Classification: How the 45 Classes Work](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained) [The Nice Classification sorts goods and services into 45 trademark classes (software, for example, is in class 9). How to choose classes and word them.](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained) ## More in Intellectual Property - ### [Trademark Watch & Opposition](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-watch-opposition-monitoring) [We watch the registers for new marks that conflict with yours, tell you which ones matter, and oppose within the deadline when you instruct us to.](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-watch-opposition-monitoring) - ### [Brand Monitoring & Online Enforcement](https://pitch.law/solutions/effective-online-brand-protection) [Counterfeits, lookalike shops, fake accounts, infringing listings on marketplaces and app stores. We find them, and we usually get them taken down within one working day.](https://pitch.law/solutions/effective-online-brand-protection) - ### [Brand Policy Compliance](https://pitch.law/solutions/online-brand-compliance) [We help brand owners get distributors, resellers and licensees to follow the brand rules, through the contract, monitoring and a graduated response.](https://pitch.law/solutions/online-brand-compliance) - ### [Domain Name Disputes](https://pitch.law/solutions/domain-name-litigation) [We recover or cancel domain names registered in bad faith, through the UDRP, the URS, the .eu procedure, country-code procedures such as .be, or the courts, and defend clients accused of the same.](https://pitch.law/solutions/domain-name-litigation) - ### [IP Portfolio Management](https://pitch.law/solutions/ip-portfolio-intelligence) [We keep your trademarks, designs, domain names and patents in one overview, follow every deadline and prepare each renewal decision with a cost estimate.](https://pitch.law/solutions/ip-portfolio-intelligence) - ### [Trademark Registration](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-registration) [We choose the right route and scope for your mark, file it with the EUIPO, the BOIP or through the Madrid System, and keep it in order afterwards.](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-registration) ## Let’s talk Tell us what you’re working on. We’ll get the right person on it and reply within one business day. The first chat is free. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule)