Dead vs. live trademark: what the status means

When you look a mark up on the USPTO's system, each record shows a status of live or dead.

• Live means the mark is active: either registered and in force, or a pending application still moving through the process. Live marks have standing and can be used to refuse or oppose a new, similar mark.

• Dead means the mark is no longer active. It was abandoned (the owner stopped responding or never finished the application), cancelled, or expired because it wasn't renewed.

A dead mark generally can't be the basis for refusing your application or objecting to your use. The rights lapsed. So when you screen a name, dead matches are mostly noise: counting them would make every name look riskier than it really is. A good screen weighs the live marks, because those are the ones that can actually stand in your way. (This is why this tool screens against the live register rather than a stale snapshot.)

Two things keep "dead" from being a green light:

• A dead federal registration can leave live common-law rights. If the former owner still uses the name in commerce, they may retain unregistered rights even without an active federal record. Those don't show up as a "live" mark.

• Status can change. An abandoned application can sometimes be revived, and a lapsed mark's owner may re-file.

So a dead match is usually reassuring, not conclusive. It means one registered obstacle is gone, not that the name is free of every claim.