Clear the name before you ship it.
A bug you can patch in an afternoon. A name is harder to swap once it’s on the store listing, the domain, the pitch deck and the invoices. Even OpenAI has had to drop two product names since 2025.
The clock The USPTO takes about 4 months just to first look at a new application. Your filing date holds your place in line.
Seed is a clearance search and a written opinion from the attorney, in under two weeks. Not sure which package fits? Email us and we’ll point you to the right one. Want advice on your specific situation? Book a paid consultation. (opens in a new tab)
Your name gets checked whether you check it or not.
The trademark office, the app stores, the ad platforms and the domain system each have their own process for deciding who a name belongs to. All of them come back to the same question: who holds the rights to it?
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Descriptive names get refused.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board upheld the refusal of MUSIC.AI for music software in November 2025, and agreed in March 2026 that CHATGPT is descriptive too. That one is moving ahead only on proof the name had become known as a brand. MUSIC.AI decision (opens in a new tab) · CHATGPT decision (opens in a new tab)
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The App Store asks who owns it.
Apple’s App Name Dispute form asks who owns the rights, the exact app name you’re disputing, and a statement sworn under penalty of perjury that you own the rights or act for the owner. Apple then notifies the developer and shares your name and email with them. Apple’s form (opens in a new tab)
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Google Play can suspend an app.
Google Play encourages trademark owners to contact the developer first, then file a trademark complaint if that doesn’t resolve it. Apps that infringe may be suspended. Google Play policy (opens in a new tab)
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Google Ads acts on complaints.
A trademark owner can complain, and Google may restrict the mark in that advertiser’s ad text. Bidding on the mark as a keyword is not restricted. Google Ads policy (opens in a new tab)
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A domain dispute starts with a trademark.
To win a domain through ICANN’s dispute policy, you must prove three things. The first is that the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark you have rights in. The policy (opens in a new tab)
Naming fights reach companies of every size.
Three recent ones. In each, the side with the earlier name got the other to change, and in two of the three, that was the smaller company.
What happened
- io. A startup named iyO sued over “io,” the name of OpenAI’s device venture with Jony Ive. A federal court temporarily barred the name, and the Ninth Circuit upheld that order on December 3, 2025. OpenAI told the court in February 2026 that it had decided not to use the name, and the case settled in July 2026. Ninth Circuit ruling (opens in a new tab) · 9to5Mac (opens in a new tab) · Bloomberg Law (opens in a new tab)
- Cameo. The celebrity video company sued after OpenAI named a Sora feature “Cameo.” A court ordered OpenAI to stop using the name in November 2025, and the feature became “Characters.” In February 2026 the court kept the order in place while the case goes on. OpenAI appealed, then dropped the appeal after shutting down Sora. TechCrunch (opens in a new tab) · Bloomberg Government (opens in a new tab)
- Clawdbot. The open-source AI assistant went viral in January 2026, then changed its name twice within days, first to Moltbot and then to OpenClaw. Its creator said Anthropic’s legal team asked him to reconsider the name, a play on “Claude.” TechCrunch (opens in a new tab) · OpenClaw (opens in a new tab)
What it means for your name
- Check the name before the launch post. A search costs less than a rename with users watching.
- A rename means redoing the store listing, the domain and email, your docs and integrations, your ads and social handles, the pitch deck and your contracts.
- File early. Once a mark registers, your nationwide rights date back to the day you filed, for what you listed in the application. That doesn’t beat anyone who used or filed for the name before you.
- Being first with a distinctive name mattered more than being bigger.
One attorney, start to finish.
Never a paralegal, never a chatbot. I am Gabrielle Maria Crawford, Esq., founder of Citrus Legal. I run your search myself, write the opinion myself, and take every call myself.
Admitted to The Florida Bar. Juris Doctor, University of Miami School of Law. Trademarks nationwide under federal law; business contracts in Florida. Based in St. Pete.
Why choose Citrus?
Because the attorney you talk to is the attorney doing the work, on every email, every call and every filing. Yes, I use AI. It’s a tool that helps me work faster, and it never makes the call on your name. I do.
Some low-cost services don’t name the attorney who files for you, and you may never speak to one. Big firms come with big names and hourly bills. With Citrus, you get the personal touch: one attorney who knows your file, a flat fee agreed in writing before any work starts, and real, honest feedback on your name, even when it isn’t what you hoped to hear.
Download it: Class 9. Log in to it: Class 42.
A trademark covers a name for specific goods or services, sorted into numbered classes. Software lands in one of two, depending on how people get it. One application can cover both, but the USPTO charges a fee for each class.
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9
Software people download.
Mobile apps, desktop programs and anything else installed on a device. The trademark office treats these as goods.
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42
Software people log in to.
SaaS, web apps and other hosted software. The trademark office treats these as services.
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9+42
Products that are both.
A hosted platform with a companion app often needs both classes. Which ones to file in is a strategy call, not a formality.
- Filing fee
- $350 per class is the USPTO’s base application fee. Surcharges, per class: $100 if required information is missing, $200 for writing your own description instead of using the USPTO’s list, and $200 for every 1,000 characters past the first 1,000.USPTO fee schedule, checked October 2026.
- First response
- About 4.3 months, on average, before an examiner first acts on an application.USPTO, data as of October 1, 2026.
- Start to finish
- About 10.4 months, on average, from filing to a registration or an abandoned application.USPTO, data as of October 1, 2026.
One attorney, one clear process.
You don’t need to know trademark law to protect your brand. You need someone who does it every day and tells you the truth about your name before you spend money on it. Here is what that looks like at Citrus Legal.
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Step 01
Search
A clearance search for your name, so you know who else is out there before you commit to it.
Want only this step? Take me to Seed.
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Step 02
Clearance opinion
A plain-English read on how strong your name is and how risky it is to use and register, before you commit.
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Step 03
Filing
Your application prepared and filed with the USPTO, with the owner, class, description and filing basis chosen deliberately. Grove and Harvest add specimen review.
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Step 04
Prosecution
Tracking your application and answering the examiner. Grove covers every procedural Office Action. Harvest also covers refusals, like likelihood of confusion or descriptiveness.
"The registration process was overwhelming to do on my own. Gabrielle answered my questions and made the whole thing effortless. I made a good call hiring an attorney."
Six decisions to make before a software company files.
Software names launch fast and spread faster: app stores, domains, integrations, investor decks. These are the choices to make before the name is everywhere.
- 01
How strong is the name?
Invented and arbitrary names, like a made-up word or an unrelated noun, are the easiest to register and enforce. Names that describe the function, or lean on AI, GPT, cloud or bot, are weak and crowded.
Read: Strong vs weak names - 02
Class 9, Class 42 or both.
Downloadable software and mobile apps are Class 9. Software used online without downloading, the classic SaaS model, is Class 42. If you offer consulting or training under the name too, Classes 35 and 41 may follow.
Read: How trademark classes work - 03
Company name or product name first.
If customers see the product name and never the company name, the product name is usually the one to protect first. If both are on the login screen, the invoice and the deck, both may matter.
Read: Which name to trademark first - 04
Who owns it.
The company should own the mark, not a founder personally. Contractors who designed the logo or named the product should sign an assignment, and cofounders should sign an IP assignment to the company.
Read: Who owns a logo a contractor made - 05
Launching outside the US.
Trademark rights are country by country. File in the US first, and you generally have six months to file in many other countries and keep the US filing date as your priority date.
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Timing the launch.
You can file on an intent-to-use basis before the product is public, which holds your place in line while you build. The registration issues once you launch and file proof of use.
Read: Intent-to-use applications
The ones software founders ask most.
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Class 9 if people download it, Class 42 if they log in to it. Mobile apps and installed programs are goods in Class 9. SaaS and other hosted software are services in Class 42. A product that is both often needs both, and each class carries its own USPTO filing fee.
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Sometimes. Two businesses can own the same word when they sell different things, so it turns on how close the names are and how close the products are. Software is a crowded field, and a name that looks free in the app stores can already be closed to you. A clearance search is how you find out before you build on it.
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That question is in front of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board right now. OpenAI opposed the FREEDOMGPT application in January 2026, and FreedomGPT answered by asking the Board to cancel OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 registrations, arguing that “GPT” is generic, or at least too descriptive to own. As of September 2026 the case was on hold while the Board decides a motion. Until it is resolved, a GPT name carries that open question with it. See the case record. (opens in a new tab)
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Apple’s name-dispute form asks for a sworn statement that you own the rights to the name or are authorized to act for the owner. Google Play acts on trademark complaints and can suspend an app. A federal registration puts your ownership on the public record, which is the plainest thing you can point either of them to.
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No. A domain is a rental from a company that can take it back. A trademark is the legal right to the name for the goods or services you sell, and someone else can hold the trademark while you hold the domain. A .AI ending does not rescue a descriptive name either: the Board said so in its MUSIC.AI decision.
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Yes. An intent-to-use application holds your place in line before launch, as long as you have a real plan to use the name. Once the USPTO approves it, you have six months to show the name in use, and you can extend that to as long as three years. Use doesn’t have to mean a sale: a free app people download can count. If it registers, your rights date back to the day you filed.
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You may, if your rights came first. What you can do depends on when you started using the name or filed for it, and on what each of you sells. That is a question about your specific situation, so it belongs in a paid consultation (opens in a new tab), not a free call.
Downloadable software and mobile apps are Class 9. Software used online without downloading, such as a web platform or SaaS product, is Class 42. Many companies with both a web app and a mobile app file in both. Read more: How trademark classes work
If they’re different names and customers see both as brands, each one is a separate mark. Most startups protect whichever name customers actually use first, then the other. Read more: Which name to trademark first
Yes, if it is used publicly as a brand for the product or service. An internal codename isn’t in use and can’t register until it is, though an intent-to-use application can reserve it before launch. Read more: Intent-to-use applications
A name like InvoiceTrack for invoicing software is likely to be refused as merely descriptive, or registered only on the weaker Supplemental Register. Descriptive names are also hard to enforce against competitors using similar words. Read more: Strong vs weak names
Whoever is the owner of record, which should be the company. If a founder filed in their own name, an assignment to the company fixes it, ideally before there is a disagreement. Read more: When cofounders split
If you have customers, investors or a team abroad, probably. A US registration only protects you in the US. The Madrid Protocol lets you extend a US filing to other member countries, and filing within six months keeps your US priority date.
Yes. Charging isn’t required. The services have to be real, offered to the public under the name, and available now. A product that is still behind a private waitlist may not count as use yet.
For a web product in Class 42, a screenshot of the website or sign-in page showing the name with a description of the service. For a downloadable app in Class 9, the app store page showing the name and a way to download it. Read more: Specimens and proof of use
Know where your name stands before you ship it.
Start here, or email us first. Either one gets you a straight answer about what to do next.
Seed is a clearance search and a written opinion letter from the attorney who ran it, in under two weeks. Not sure which package fits? Email us and we’ll point you to the right one.