--- title: "Trademark Clearance Search | Pitch, European law firm" description: "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." url: https://pitch.law/technologies/efficient-cost-effective-and-accurate-trademark-clearance-solutions --- [pitch](https://pitch.law/) [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies) [Trademarks & brand protection](https://pitch.law/technology-categories/online-brand-protection) # Trademark Clearance Search 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. - By [Bart Lieben](https://pitch.law/team/bart-lieben), Attorney-at-Law ## What it does This is the technology behind our [trademark clearance](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-clearance) service. You give it a name or logo, with the goods, services and countries that matter. It then works through the same fixed route every time: intake, absolute grounds, search, relative grounds, conclusions. An attorney checks and signs off each stage before the next one starts. The technology gathers and sorts the material. The legal assessment and the recommendation come from a person. We work with a range of AI models, including models we trained and fine-tuned ourselves, on our own infrastructure, for legal and IP work. That is how a clearance search with advice usually comes back within one working day, at a fixed fee. Dedicated privacy gates filter personal data and confidential or privileged information out before anything reaches an outside AI model, so no outside provider can learn from your files or train on them. If that check cannot run, nothing goes out. Our platform is hosted in the EU. We also use the engine to screen a proposed brand top-level domain against existing marks, before anyone decides to apply. That is where it meets our [New gTLDs for Brands](https://pitch.law/solutions/new-gtlds) work. ## Functions ### Depth selection Three depths. A quick check for early ideas and shortlists. A preliminary search for the name you prefer. Full clearance for a brand with serious money behind it. The steps stay the same; the number of sources, the amount of review and the detail of the opinion change. ### Absolute grounds check We test the sign against the absolute grounds for refusal: descriptiveness, lack of distinctive character, deceptiveness and the rest. The check runs in all 24 official EU languages, because a problem in one language area can be enough to block an EU trade mark. The attorney reviews every meaning that gets flagged. ### Register and online search The engine searches the trademark and design registers of close to a hundred IP offices. It then goes past the registers, to domain names, the open web, social media handles, online marketplaces and company registers. Everything ends up in one set of candidate conflicts, scored, and linked to the same owner wherever that owner shows up. You give us the sign, its variants and the classes. You get back the candidate conflicts, each with its source. ### Similarity scoring Each candidate gets a visual, a phonetic and a conceptual score. The reference is [how similarity is judged](https://pitch.law/academy/understanding-trademark-similarity) in law. If the score and the legal assessment disagree, the attorney decides. ### Goods and services comparison We compare goods and services across all 45 [Nice classes](https://pitch.law/academy/the-nice-classification-explained). Cross-class checks catch marks in other classes whose goods or services are still similar to yours. ### Coexistence agreement check When there is a conflict, we look for a coexistence agreement on record that bears on it. It tells the attorney what has been accepted before, and whether approaching the earlier owner makes sense. ### Brand naming screen Before names go into clearance, we can screen them linguistically in 36 languages. That catches unfortunate meanings, near-homophones, and sounds that do not travel. ## What you receive A structured clearance opinion. Every relevant conflict is listed with a risk level, the reasoning and a recommendation: proceed, proceed with changes, proceed and watch, or do not proceed. With it comes a comparison report that sets candidate names side by side, in Word, Excel or PDF. Clearance lowers the risk. It does not remove it. A register only shows what has been filed or published at the time of the search, and the opinion says so. Our Academy explains [what a clearance search covers](https://pitch.law/academy/trademark-clearance-search-explained) in more detail. ## Where it is used Mostly before a new name is launched or filed, while changing course is still cheap. A favourable result goes straight into [trademark filing](https://pitch.law/technologies/trademark-filing), with the same classes. We also run it when a brand moves into new goods, services or countries, before a licence or an acquisition, and in naming projects with several candidates. ## In short - Staged pipeline with attorney sign-off at each stage - Three depths, from quick check to full clearance - Absolute grounds in all 24 official EU languages - Similarity scored visually, phonetically and conceptually - Opinion and comparison report in Word, Excel or PDF ## Related solutions - [Solutions](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-clearance) ### [Trademark Clearance](https://pitch.law/solutions/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.](https://pitch.law/solutions/trademark-clearance) - [Solutions](https://pitch.law/solutions/new-gtlds) ### [New gTLDs for Brands](https://pitch.law/solutions/new-gtlds) [Advice for brand owners on ICANN's new gTLD programme, from the decision to apply through objections and contention to running a registry.](https://pitch.law/solutions/new-gtlds) ## 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) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/brand-tlds-in-the-2026-round-of-new-gtlds-key-takeaways-from-the-draft-applicant-guidebook) ### [Brand TLDs in the 2026 Round: the Applicant Guidebook](https://pitch.law/academy/brand-tlds-in-the-2026-round-of-new-gtlds-key-takeaways-from-the-draft-applicant-guidebook) [What a brand TLD is, how the Applicant Guidebook treats it, and the contract obligations that come with running one.](https://pitch.law/academy/brand-tlds-in-the-2026-round-of-new-gtlds-key-takeaways-from-the-draft-applicant-guidebook) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/dotbrand-domains-in-financial-services-what-a-decade-of-data-reveals-about-trust-security-and-the-road-to-2026) ### [Brand TLDs in Financial Services](https://pitch.law/academy/dotbrand-domains-in-financial-services-what-a-decade-of-data-reveals-about-trust-security-and-the-road-to-2026) [Why banks and insurers look at brand TLDs, what a brand TLD can and cannot do against phishing, and which EU rules shape the decision.](https://pitch.law/academy/dotbrand-domains-in-financial-services-what-a-decade-of-data-reveals-about-trust-security-and-the-road-to-2026) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/history-and-background) ### [History of ICANN's New gTLD Program](https://pitch.law/academy/history-and-background) [How the top-level domain space grew from a handful of extensions to more than a thousand, and what the earlier rounds teach applicants and brand owners today.](https://pitch.law/academy/history-and-background) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/icanns-next-round-of-new-generic-top-level-domains-in-2026) ### [ICANN's Next Round of New gTLDs (2026)](https://pitch.law/academy/icanns-next-round-of-new-generic-top-level-domains-in-2026) [Where ICANN's 2026 round of new generic top-level domains stands in October 2026, how the process continues after the application window, and what it means for brand owners.](https://pitch.law/academy/icanns-next-round-of-new-generic-top-level-domains-in-2026) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/strategic-use-cases-for-brand-tlds-from-experiment-to-a-cornerstone-in-digital-strategy) ### [Strategic Use Cases for Brand TLDs](https://pitch.law/academy/strategic-use-cases-for-brand-tlds-from-experiment-to-a-cornerstone-in-digital-strategy) [How companies use a brand TLD in practice, from authentication and anti-phishing to internal systems and partner networks, and the legal points that go with each use.](https://pitch.law/academy/strategic-use-cases-for-brand-tlds-from-experiment-to-a-cornerstone-in-digital-strategy) ## More in Trademarks & brand protection - ### [Online Brand Monitoring](https://pitch.law/technologies/domain-monitoring-enforcement) [Continuous discovery of lookalike domain names, counterfeit listings and impersonating accounts, with detections shown in the client portal for attorney review.](https://pitch.law/technologies/domain-monitoring-enforcement) - ### [Trademark and Design Watch](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-brand-protection) [Scheduled watches of trademark and design registers, with new hits compared against the last run and routed to a recommended action for you to decide on.](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-brand-protection) - ### [Takedowns and Enforcement Notices](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns) [A notice workflow for marketplaces, registrars, hosts and platforms, with a timestamped evidence pack for each action and enforcement documents drafted in four languages.](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns) - ### [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) ## 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)