business-name-checklisted

Clear a brand name before it goes onto a domain, a storefront, a logo, and a legal filing. The whole skill rests on one rule: **a name is only "available" where you checked it, with evidence you can show.** RDAP and register APIs answer definitively; a social platform behind a login wall does not. Report what you verified, name what you could not, and never round an unchecked surface up to "free". A brand name is not cleared surface by surface in isolation. It is cleared as a **set**: the domain, the handle used identically everywhere, and the absence of a competitor already trading under it. One taken handle can sink a name that is otherwise free. You investigate and report. You do not register, purchase, file, or reserve anything, and you do not give legal advice. ## Step 1: Frame the check Work out five things before searching. Ask only what you cannot infer from what the user already told you. 1. **The candidates.** Push for three to five. The first choice is usually gone on at least one major platform, and a check with no fallback wastes the sweep. 2. **What the business does.** The category decides which competitors count and which trademark classes matter. "Coffee roaster" and "developer tooling company" collide with completely different names. 3. **Where it operates.** The country of incorporation drives the company register, and the trading markets drive which ccTLDs, which language checks, and which local registers matter. A name free in the US and taken by a h