Check out the Small Business Administration web site — they’re a great resource for the small business owner. I listed a couple of other handy links as well.

Try reading up on the subject — check out Amazon, your local bookstore or library.

Prior to investing your time, money & effort into a business name, it is strongly advised that comprehensive research be conducted to ensure that the name you’re interested in is truly available.

This entails searching the pending & registered Federal and State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files. Then, if clear, you can decide if you would like to file for a Federal or a State trademark.

Research is needed to make sure your trade name is legally available, before opening, before expansion, before incorporation or before designing your logo. Similarities in sound, appearance and meaning affect you too!

There are 16+ million trade names in use in the United States. Similar names matter, if close in sound, appearance or meaning. Similar names in related classes, distribution channels and customer matter too. You are affected by Common Law use (14 million), State Trademarks (500,000) and Federal Trademarks (2 million).