Quick check
Watch a name meet its lookalikes.
A quick check is the first look: one name, the marks closest to it, and a one-sentence verdict. The chart below is built from invented names, so you can learn to read a result before you run your own. It does not search the register.
Collision course: SWYFT KETEL is a very close match for SWIFTKETTLE.
Closest mark
SWYFT KETEL
Sounds like your name, 91%similar
Registered, class 30, in your classes, Proprietor A (invented)
Said aloud, the two are the same name.
Every mark on the chart, closest first
- In your classes
- Outside your classes
- Closest mark
- Italic: pending, or in its opposition window
Reading key
What each reading means, and what to do.
Every result ends in one of three sentences. None of them says a name is clear to use: each is a reading of the records Notum searched, with a next step.
The three bands
- Open water
- Score 0 to 49
- Only distant matches turned up in the records Notum read.
- What to do. Read it as a screening of those records alone, not a guarantee. Look at the IPO register yourself, and take advice before you file.
- Crowded
- Score 50 to 74
- Marks with real overlap sit near your name.
- What to do. Read each reason and see which classes overlap. Narrow your classes, or choose a more distinctive name, and consider advice from a trade mark attorney.
- Collision course
- Score 75 to 100
- A mark very close to yours sits in the records Notum read.
- What to do. Treat it as a likely conflict. Try another name, or take advice from a trade mark attorney before you file or spend on the name.
Illustrative example. Not a live result. A band is a screening result for the register a search read. It is not legal advice.
Reading a mark on the chart
- Distance. The nearer the centre, the more alike. The rings are drawn at 75, 50 and 25.
- Bearing. Which likeness is strongest for that mark: sound, look or meaning.
- Solid or hollow. A solid mark covers a class you chose. A hollow one is outside your classes.
- Magenta. Hazard, and nothing else: the closest mark on a collision course, the pale zone inside the 75 ring, and the date an opposition window closes.
- Italic name. The mark is pending, or still inside its opposition window, the short period in which it can be challenged.
Coverage
A reading is only as wide as the records it read.
Every result names the records it read, their dates, and what it did not read. Today a search reads UK marks filed up to 28 January 2018, and those published in the Trade Marks Journal since 19 September 2025. Marks published in between are being added, which is one reason Notum is in early access. EU and international marks are not included.
Finding nothing close does not make a name free to use. See how it works for the whole method.
Run your own name.
Early access is by invitation. Tell us the name you are weighing up and we will be in touch.