Your business name is already taken. Now what?
A taken business name isn't one problem, it's five. How to check trademarks, entities, domains, handles, and search, and what your real options are for each.
You found the perfect name. You checked the domain, or maybe you didn't. Either way, someone else got there first. This is one of the most common problems in naming and almost nobody plans for it.
Here's the thing most founders miss. "Taken" is not one thing. A name can be taken in five different ways, and they are not equally bad. What you do next depends entirely on which kind of taken you're dealing with.
First, figure out how taken it actually is
Run the name through every registry, not just the domain. There are five places a name can be claimed:
A live trademark. This is the serious one. If someone holds a registered mark in your industry class, using the name invites a cease and desist. You can't buy your way around a trademark the way you can a domain.
A registered business entity. If an LLC or corporation with your name exists in your state, your Secretary of State may reject your filing outright. An entity in a different state matters less, but it still shows up when customers search.
The domain. Annoying, but often the most fixable. Domains get bought, sold, and dropped every day.
Social handles. Easy to work around, ugly to compromise on.
Search results. If an established company dominates page one for your name, you'll spend years fighting for your own brand's visibility.
A name with a taken .com but no trademark and no entities is a very different situation than a name with a live trademark in your class. Check all five before you decide anything.
Your real options
Option 1: Modify the name. The most common fix. Add a word that describes what you do, or change the structure. Basecamp started as 37signals. Many companies live happily as GetName, NameHQ, or NameApp while the plain name stays parked. The risk is that the modified version reads as second choice. Sometimes it is. Sometimes nobody cares.
Option 2: Buy the domain. If the only problem is the domain, find out who owns it. A parked page with no real site behind it often means the owner will sell. Prices range from a hundred bucks to absurd. Get the trademark and entity picture clear first, because a domain is worthless if the name itself is legally blocked.
Option 3: Wait for it to drop. Domains expire. If the registration lapses and the owner doesn't renew, the domain goes through a grace period and then becomes available again. This takes patience and monitoring, and most of the time the owner renews. But it costs nothing to watch.
Option 4: Coexist carefully. Trademark protection is scoped by industry class and geography. A name used by a landscaping company in Ohio may be fully available to a software company. This is real, but it's also where founders get in trouble by guessing. If the other user is anywhere near your industry, talk to a trademark attorney before you commit. A few hundred dollars now beats a rebrand later.
Option 5: Walk away. Sometimes the honest answer. If the name has a live trademark in your class, an established company ranking for it, and a seven-figure domain, the name is gone. The founders who lose the most on naming are the ones who fall in love and stop being able to hear no.
The mistake that makes this worse
Most founders check one thing. Usually the domain. Then they build the logo, print the cards, tell everyone, and find the trademark six months in. The order matters: check everything first, decide second, build third.
Check all five at once
This is exactly what BrandScreen does. One search checks your name against live USPTO trademarks, domain availability, registered business entities in five states, social handles, and search competition, and scores the whole picture 0 to 100.
The basic report is free and unlimited. Your first full report is free when you create an account. If the name is taken, you'll know exactly how taken, and what your real options are, before you spend another dollar on it.
This post is general information, not legal advice. For trademark questions specific to your situation, talk to a trademark attorney.