Guide
TESS trademark search
TESS, the Trademark Electronic Search System, was switched off by the USPTO on 30 November 2023. You can still search every U.S. trademark free, right here, including the similar names an exact search misses.
Below: what replaced TESS, what changed in practice, and the one thing neither the old system nor the new one does for you.
What TESS was
TESS was the public search tool for United States trademarks, run by the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2000 until the end of November 2023. For twenty three years it was simply how everyone looked up an American trademark. That is why so many law firm articles, textbooks, video tutorials and bookmarks still tell you to "search TESS", and why people still type its name today.
Why the USPTO retired it
The system had been built for a register a fraction of the size it eventually held. By the end it was carrying well over eleven million records on an architecture designed in the late nineties, and it showed: slow queries and timeouts when the office was busy. The USPTO has also said the retirement of a key engineer behind the old code brought the decision forward. Rather than patch it again, they replaced it.
What replaced it
The USPTO's current search is simply called Trademark Search and lives at tmsearch.uspto.gov. It is free, it needs no account, and it is the authoritative record. Three practical differences from TESS:
- A plain search box. TESS pushed most people into structured forms. The new system opens with one box, and you type the name.
- Expert mode is still there. The old field codes and boolean queries live on behind an expert query builder, so a search you learned in TESS can usually be rewritten rather than abandoned.
- It is faster and it stays up. The timeouts that made TESS painful at the end are gone.
Your old TESS links will not work. There is no redirect that maps an old query to a new one, so a saved search has to be run again in the new system.
The thing neither system does
This is the part worth knowing, and it was as true of TESS as it is of its replacement. Both match the text you type. Search NORTHWIND and you find NORTHWIND.
But an application is not refused because someone already registered your exact spelling. It is refused because of a likelihood of confusion, which is judged on how similar two marks are in sound, appearance and meaning, across related goods and services. NORTHWYND, NORTH WIND and NORTHWINDE are the filings most likely to stop yours, and an exact search is the one search guaranteed not to surface them.
Nor does either system compare a logo as an image, or look at the international register alongside the American one, even though an international registration that designates the United States sits on the USPTO register like any other application.
How to search now
Use both, in this order. Start here to find out what is close to your name, then confirm anything interesting against the official record.
- For similar names, not just identical ones: the trademark availability check scores your name against 14.3 million U.S. federal records and 611,000 international registrations in the classes you pick, fuzzy and phonetic, and returns the closest conflicts with their status.
- For a logo: the logo search compares your artwork against the registered logos on both registers by shape, by what the image depicts and by the wording inside it. No text search of any kind will do this.
- For the authoritative record of one mark: the USPTO's Trademark Search. Whatever you find anywhere else, the office's own file is the version that counts.
Our copy of the federal register was last refreshed on 4 October 2026, and it is rebuilt from the USPTO's published files every day.
Old TESS habits and what to do instead
- You searched an exact wordmark. Type the name into the new system's search box, or run a name check here to see the near misses too.
- You used field codes like
[BI]or[GS]. The expert query builder in the new system accepts the same idea in its own syntax. - You browsed by class. Our class pages show what is filed in each of the 45 classes and how often those filings succeed.
- You looked up a serial number. Search the number in the new system, or use our status checker: the stage in plain English, what happens next and when, and any deadline.
Questions
How do I search trademarks now that TESS is gone?
Use the USPTO's Trademark Search at tmsearch.uspto.gov for the official record, or search free here, which also finds similar spellings and sound-alikes that an exact search misses. No account is needed for either.
Is TESS still available?
No. The USPTO switched off the Trademark Electronic Search System on 30 November 2023. Old TESS links and saved searches no longer resolve, and there is no redirect that turns an old query into a new one.
What replaced TESS?
A system called Trademark Search, at tmsearch.uspto.gov. It is free, needs no account, and is the authoritative record. It opens with a single search box, and the field codes and boolean queries people learned in TESS live on behind an expert query builder.
Why did the USPTO retire TESS?
It was built around 2000 for a register far smaller than the one it ended up holding, and by the end it was slow and timed out when the office was busy. The USPTO has also said the retirement of a key engineer behind the old code brought the decision forward.
Does the new USPTO search find similar names or only exact ones?
It matches the text you type. That was true of TESS as well. An application is refused for likelihood of confusion, which is judged on similarity in sound, appearance and meaning, so the filings most likely to block you are the ones an exact search will not show you.
Can I search trademarks by logo?
Not with a text search of any kind, including the USPTO's. Comparing artwork means comparing images. Our logo search does that against the registered logos on the U.S. and international registers, by the shape of the image, by what it depicts and by the wording inside it.
Is a free search enough before I file?
It is the right first pass and it rules names out quickly, which is most of the value. It is not a clearance opinion, because no automated search covers state registers, unregistered common-law rights or the judgement a lawyer brings. For a filing that matters, have an attorney run a full search.
Data scope: the USPTO federal register and the WIPO Madrid international register. Not covered: state registers, marks filed directly at national offices outside the United States, and unregistered common-law rights. A clean result is a strong signal, not a clearance opinion.
Filing something that matters? A search, ours or the office's own, is the first pass. For a mark you are about to build a business on, have a trademark attorney run a full search. See when to hire one.