Check trademark before buying a domain: every registry to search

You found an expired domain with great backlinks and solid age. Clean Wayback history too. You're about to buy it. But have you checked if the domain name is a registered trademark?

Skipping this step can cost you the domain, legal fees, or both. Trademark holders can file a UDRP complaint and take the domain from you, usually within two months. It happens more often than you'd think.

This guide covers every trademark registry you should check before buying a domain, organized from local to global. You'll learn how trademark protection works at each level, which free databases to use, and what the results actually mean.

How trademark protection works (quick primer)

Before you start searching databases, there are three things about trademarks that every domain buyer should know.

Trademarks are territorial

A French trademark only protects in France. A US trademark only protects in the US. But domain names are global. So a trademark holder in any country where the mark is registered could come after your domain. Checking one country isn't enough.

Registration vs. common law

In countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, a business can have trademark rights just by using a name in commerce, without ever registering it. These "common law" trademarks don't appear in any database. In civil law countries (France, Germany, Spain, Italy), unregistered marks have very limited protection, so registration is what matters.

For domain buyers, this means: even if you search every database and find nothing, a US business that's been using the name for years could still have enforceable rights. Database searches reduce your risk, they don't eliminate it.

Nice Classification (45 classes)

Trademarks are registered for specific categories of goods or services. There are 45 classes total: 1-34 for goods, 35-45 for services. "Nike" is registered in Class 25 (clothing) and Class 18 (bags), among others. A domain matching a trademark in Class 25 is less risky if you plan a software business (Class 42). But this isn't a guarantee. Well-known brands can claim cross-class protection.

Level 1: National trademark offices

Every country has its own trademark office where businesses register marks that are valid within that country's borders. Start here if the domain uses a country-code TLD (.fr, .de, .co.uk), and always check the US (for .com domains, the US is the most litigious jurisdiction).

🇫🇷 France: INPI

The Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle manages French trademarks. Their free search covers French trademarks since 1976, EU trademarks since 1996, and international trademarks designating France since 1891.

Search the domain name as a word mark. If you're looking at freshmarket.fr, search "freshmarket". Check if any active registration covers a class related to your planned use.

🇺🇸 United States: USPTO

The United States Patent and Trademark Office runs the largest national trademark database. The old TESS search system was retired in November 2023 and replaced with a new cloud-based tool.

Always check the USPTO for .com domains. The US is where most UDRP complaints originate, and US trademark law includes common law rights that extend beyond what's in this database.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: UKIPO

Since Brexit, UK trademarks are separate from EU registrations. If you're buying a .co.uk or .uk domain, check both the UKIPO and EUIPO databases.

🇩🇪 Germany: DPMA

Other national offices

Level 2: Regional trademark offices

Some regions let you register a trademark that covers multiple countries with a single application. For domain buyers, these are important because one registration can give someone rights across an entire continent.

🇪🇺 EUIPO (European Union)

The European Union Intellectual Property Office manages EU trademarks (EUTMs). A single registration covers all 27 EU member states. If someone holds an EUTM for "FreshMarket", they have rights in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and every other EU country with one registration.

TMview deserves special attention. It pulls together over 107 million trademarks from 68 offices worldwide, updated daily, in 27 languages. If you only have time to check one database, this is the one.

🌍 OAPI (Francophone Africa)

The Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle covers 17 francophone African member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and others). One application under the Bangui Agreement covers all member states. OAPI trademarks are searchable via TMview since 2019.

🌍 ARIPO (Anglophone Africa)

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization covers English-speaking African states under the Banjul Protocol (Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and others). Unlike OAPI, ARIPO has no centralized search tool. You'd need to check individual national registers, which is impractical for most domain buyers.

Level 3: International (WIPO and the Madrid System)

The World Intellectual Property Organization runs the Madrid System. It lets trademark owners protect their mark in 130+ countries through a single application.

How the Madrid System works

1. A business registers a trademark in their home country (the "office of origin")
2. They file a single international application through their national office
3. WIPO's International Bureau registers the mark and notifies each designated country
4. Each country examines the application under its own laws and can accept or refuse within 12-18 months
5. The result is a bundle of national protections managed through one central registration

Here's a detail most people miss: for the first 5 years, the international registration depends on the home registration. If the home mark gets cancelled, the international one falls too. This is called "central attack." It matters because an international trademark that looks active might be vulnerable if its home registration is in trouble.

🌐 WIPO Global Brand Database

The Global Brand Database pulls data from WIPO's Madrid System plus dozens of national offices. 50 million records in one place. For any domain purchase above a few hundred euros, search here.

The 5-minute trademark check (practical workflow)

You don't need to check every database for every domain. Here's a practical workflow that covers 95% of cases, ordered by importance.

For a .com domain, steps 1-3 are the minimum. For a ccTLD like .fr or .de, add the relevant national office (step 5). For high-value purchases (over 500 euros), do all five steps.

What to search for

• The exact second-level domain name as a word mark. For freshmarket.com, search "freshmarket"
• Common variations: with spaces ("fresh market"), hyphenated ("fresh-market")
• Phonetic equivalents if the name sounds like something else

How to read the results

What happens if you buy a trademarked domain (UDRP)

UDRP stands for Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy. It's the standard process trademark holders use to reclaim domain names, administered by ICANN through approved providers (WIPO handles most cases). We cover the full UDRP process in a separate guide, but here's the summary.

To win a UDRP case, the trademark holder must prove all three of these:

1. The domain is identical or confusingly similar to their trademark
2. You (the registrant) have no rights or legitimate interests in the domain
3. The domain was registered and is being used in bad faith

Some numbers: trademark holders win about 90% of filed UDRP cases. The process takes roughly two months. Filing costs $1,000-$2,000, paid by the complainant. If they win, you lose the domain. It gets transferred to them or cancelled outright.

For expired domain buyers, the "bad faith" test is the key. If you register an expired domain that matches an active trademark and park it with ads, redirect it to a competitor, or try to sell it to the trademark holder, you will almost certainly lose. But if you have a legitimate, non-competing use and didn't register it to target the trademark, you have a defense.

Risks even with an expired trademark

An expired or abandoned trademark in the database doesn't mean you're in the clear. Four scenarios to watch for:

• Continued commercial use. The former owner might still use the name in their business without renewing the registration. In common law countries (US, UK, Canada), this can give them enforceable rights.
• Re-filing. Trademark offices allow re-registration of expired marks. The former owner (or anyone else) could file a new application at any time.
• Same name, different country. A mark expired in France might still be active in Germany, the EU, or internationally via the Madrid System.
• Well-known marks. Famous brands retain protection even after formal expiry under Article 6bis of the Paris Convention. Don't buy cocacola-deals.com just because a registration lapsed somewhere.

Paid trademark search services

If you're spending thousands of euros on a domain, free databases might not cut it. Professional search services go further: they check phonetic similarities, logo resemblances, and actual commercial use across the web and social media.

• Corsearch (formerly CompuMark) - full clearance searches, used by most big law firms
• Marcaria - multi-country searches, solid for international checks
• MarkMonitor (Thomson Reuters) - enterprise-grade brand protection

Prices range from 200 to 2,000 euros depending on scope. Overkill for a 50-euro domain. Cheap insurance for a 5,000-euro one.

Checklist before buying any expired domain

1. Search TMview for the exact domain name (covers 68 offices, 107M+ marks)
2. Search the WIPO Global Brand Database (covers international registrations)
3. Search the USPTO if it's a .com (US is the most litigious market)
4. Search the national office of the TLD country (.fr = INPI, .de = DPMA, etc.)
5. Check the trademark status: active, pending, expired, or abandoned
6. Check the Nice classification: is the mark in a class related to your planned use?
7. Do a quick Google search for the name: is any business actively using it?
8. For high-value domains: consider a paid trademark search

Steps 1-3 take five minutes and cost nothing. They won't catch every possible conflict. But the obvious ones are where most of the risk sits.

If you're browsing expired domains on CatchDoms, make this part of your routine before bidding. Perfect backlinks and a clean Wayback history don't matter if a trademark holder takes the domain from you two months later.