A trade name identifies your business. A trademark identifies the source of the goods or services you sell. The two are often the same words, but they are different legal things, and filing a DBA or forming an LLC creates a record of the first, not the second. That is why a $25 assumed-name certificate in Texas and a $350-per-class application at the USPTO are not two prices for the same protection.
The Texas Secretary of State files an assumed name "without determining what rights, if any, you have to use the name." A federal trademark application is examined for something the state filing never considers: whether the name works as a brand for particular goods or services.
If you have a DBA or an LLC and assume the name is covered, this explains what each term means in US law, why state filings do not create trademark rights, where the two overlap, and what Facebook's rename to Meta shows about how they move independently. For a short definition, see the trade name glossary entry.
What is a trade name?
The Lanham Act, the federal trademark statute, defines a trade name (also called a commercial name) as "any name used by a person to identify his or her business or vocation" (15 U.S.C. § 1127). The definition is about the business itself: who you are, not what you sell.
A business usually has two kinds of trade name. The first is its legal name, the one on the formation documents, such as "Bluebird Coffee Roasters LLC" (a hypothetical business used throughout this article). The second is any assumed name it operates under instead, which depending on the state is called a DBA ("doing business as"), a fictitious business name, or a trade name certificate. The labels differ; the idea is the same. The USPTO notes that many states register business names "as an assumed name filing."
These filings happen at the state or county level, and the requirements are administrative. In Los Angeles County, a fictitious business name statement costs $26 for one name and one registrant ($5 for each additional one), must be published once a week for four consecutive weeks starting within 30 days of filing, and expires five years from the filing date. Texas charges $25 for an assumed name certificate (Form 503). These are recording systems. Texas, for one, files an assumed name without deciding what rights you have to it.
What a trademark is
A trademark is "any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof" used, or intended to be used and applied for, "to identify and distinguish" a person's goods "from those manufactured or sold by others" and to indicate their source (15 U.S.C. § 1127). A service mark is the same thing for services. Where a trade name points to a business, a trademark points from a product back to whoever stands behind it. In everyday terms, that is the brand name vs trade name distinction: the brand is the name on the product, and the trade name is the name on the business.
That difference has a practical consequence: trademark rights are tied to specific goods and services. An application lists what the mark covers, sorted into Nice classes, the international system that divides goods and services into 45 classes (Class 9 covers software, Class 30 covers coffee, Class 43 covers restaurant services). A mark registered for coffee in Class 30 is a different asset from the same word used for software. For the fundamentals, see what a trademark is.
Scope is the other difference. The SBA puts it plainly: an entity name protects your name "at a state level," while a trademark protects it "at a national level." A federal registration can also last indefinitely, provided the owner keeps up the required maintenance filings. Signa's deadline rules for the US (Signa data, queried Nov 10, 2026, citing 15 U.S.C. §§ 1058 and 1059) show a 10-year renewable term, a declaration of use due between the fifth and sixth year after registration, and a six-month grace period on each filing. A declaration still missing after the grace period means cancellation.
Trade name vs trademark side by side
The table below sets the two against each other. Costs are examples, not national averages.
| Trade name (DBA, LLC name) | Trademark | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Identifies the business | Identifies the source of goods or services |
| Where recorded | State or county office | USPTO (federal); rights can also arise from use |
| Scope | State level (SBA) | National level (SBA), limited to listed goods and services |
| What it does not do | Does not create trademark rights (USPTO, NASS) | Does not register a company name as such (TMEP § 1202.01) |
| Example cost | $25 Texas assumed name; $26 Los Angeles County | $350 per class, USPTO base application fee (checked Nov 10, 2026) |
| Duration | 5 years in Los Angeles County, then refile | 10-year term, renewable every 10 years with maintenance filings |
Is a DBA a trademark? Why a DBA or LLC name isn't protection
No. A DBA is not a trademark, and forming an LLC does not give your business name trademark rights.
Four official sources say the same thing, in nearly the same words. The SBA: "Registering your DBA name doesn't provide legal protection by itself." The USPTO's Basic Facts booklet: "a state's authorization to form a business with a particular name does not also give you trademark rights," and others "could later try to prevent your use of the business name" if it is likely to be confused with their marks. The National Association of Secretaries of State: "Registration of a business name does not establish trademark rights." The Texas Secretary of State adds that filing an assumed name does not let you violate unfair competition, copyright, or trademark law.
The reason is structural. A state filing records a name; it does not decide who has the right to use it, and it does not establish trademark rights. The USPTO's warning follows from that: the owner of a confusingly similar mark may still try to stop you.
Take the hypothetical again. A state could accept "Bluebird Coffee Roasters LLC" while a roaster elsewhere holds a federal registration for BLUEBIRD covering coffee. The state filing does not resolve that conflict. That is why the first step for most founders is checking whether the business name is already trademarked.
The charter argument has failed in court before. In Lady Esther, Ltd. v. Lady Esther Corset Shoppe, Inc., 317 Ill. App. 451 (1943), the defendant relied on the Illinois corporate charter it held under that name. The court disagreed: "the fact that defendant received a charter to use the name ... does not protect it." The injunction against the defendant was affirmed.
The case turned on common-law unfair competition, not on a federal registration, and the state's permission to incorporate under the name was still no defense.
The UK draws the same line. GOV.UK guidance states that "company law is different from trade mark law," and that you cannot stop someone using a same or similar trade mark "just by registering your name with Companies House." The UK does offer a separate remedy for the reverse problem: the Company Names Tribunal, part of the Intellectual Property Office, hears complaints about opportunistic company name registrations and can order a name change.
Do trade names get any protection?
Yes, but not from the registration, and not in the form most people assume. Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A)) reaches anyone who "uses in commerce" any word, term, or name in a way "likely to cause confusion ... as to the affiliation, connection, or association" with another person. The statute does not use the phrase "trade name." The accurate statement is narrower: trade names can be protected against confusing use under unfair competition law, including § 43(a), without registration.
International law points the same way. Article 8 of the Paris Convention provides that "a trade name shall be protected in all the countries of the Union without the obligation of filing or registration, whether or not it forms part of a trademark." US law says the same for the trade names of foreign nationals covered by 15 U.S.C. § 1126(b): under § 1126(g), they "shall be protected without the obligation of filing or registration."
My reading is that this protection is worth less in practice than it sounds. It comes from using the name, not from filing it, so a DBA certificate adds nothing to it. It generally requires showing likely confusion, which is a factual fight, not a lookup. And it is strongest where you actually trade and weakest everywhere else, which is exactly the gap a federal trademark registration is designed to close. Unfair competition law is a shield for a business that already has a reputation. It is a poor substitute for owning the brand.
Can a trade name be a trademark?
The USPTO will not register a trade name as such. The Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP, the manual USPTO examiners work from) is blunt: "The Trademark Act does not provide for registration of trade names." If the matter in an application is merely a trade name, registration is refused on both the Principal and Supplemental Registers (TMEP § 1202.01, May 2026 edition).
The same section then makes the point that matters most for founders: "A designation may function as both a trade name and a trademark or service mark" (citing In re Walker Process Equipment, C.C.P.A. 1956). The words are not the question. The use is. If our hypothetical Bluebird Coffee Roasters LLC prints BLUEBIRD on the front of its bags as the product's brand, that use points toward a trademark. If it prints only "Bluebird Coffee Roasters LLC, 12 Main St." in small type on the back, that use looks like a trade name.
Examiners weigh how the name appears on the specimen (the sample of real-world use filed with the application). An entity designator such as "Inc." or "LLC," and an address nearby, point toward trade-name use. A name displayed in "distinctively bolder, larger and different type of lettering" than the surrounding text can function as a mark (In re Univar Corp., TTAB 1991). The TMEP's examples of the other side are instructive. A name in a FedEx "Ship From" return-address block was not trademark use (In re Supply Guys, Inc., TTAB 2008). DIAMOND HILL FARMS on containers was held to be a trade name, not a mark (In re Diamond Hill Farms, TTAB 1994).
Trade name and trademark move separately: Facebook and Meta
Facebook, Inc. renamed itself Meta Platforms, Inc. in 2021. The company changed its trade name. Its FACEBOOK trademarks did not disappear and did not become META marks. They carried on under the new owner name.
The USPTO records show this. In Signa's exact-match lookup for FACEBOOK at the USPTO (Signa data, queried Nov 10, 2026), older inactive records list the owner as "Facebook, Inc." The active registrations, including Reg. No. 3935447 (filed December 17, 2009), Reg. No. 4339122 (filed October 7, 2010), and Reg. No. 7381038 (registered May 7, 2024), now list "Meta Platforms, Inc." in the owner field. Same marks, same registration numbers, new owner name. Recording a change in the owner's name and assigning a mark to a different owner are different transactions; the trademark assignment guide explains the distinction.
The reverse holds too. Renaming the company Meta did not give it every META mark. In the first 50 exact-match META records Signa returned for the USPTO (more exist), Meta Platforms owns 33. The other 17 belong to 12 different owners, including Metabev LLC (4), Lagree Technologies (2), Meta Manufacturing LLC (2), Dornbracht AG & Co. KG, Schmidt & Bender GmbH & Co. KG, and the World Economic Forum.
Exact-match META records at the USPTO by owner (first 50 records)
Those owners coexist because trademark rights attach to particular goods and services, not to a word in the abstract and not to whichever company carries it as a name. A company as prominent as Meta adopting a trade name did not erase other owners' marks for other products. A small business filing a DBA certainly does not.
What to do before you file a DBA or form an LLC
The decision is simpler than the doctrine. Start with how you will use the name.
First, search the trademark register before you commit to the name, not after. Signa holds 14,417,848 USPTO marks on record, including 626,587 applications filed in 2025 (Signa data, queried Nov 10, 2026). If you plan to sell abroad, the offices in those markets matter too. A trademark clearance search is the structured version of this step.
Second, decide whether the business name is also your brand. Many companies sell under the same name they incorporate under, and many do not. If the name will go on products, packaging, or a storefront as the thing customers recognize, it is doing trademark work, and the state filing does not cover that.
Third, if it is your brand, the typical path is a federal trademark application for the goods and services you actually offer. The USPTO base fee is $350 per class (USPTO fee page, checked Nov 10, 2026). The guide to trademarking a name covers the process. This article is educational, not legal advice. Consult a trademark attorney for legal guidance specific to your situation.
Before you file a DBA or form an LLC, search the trademark register; Signa is one way to check the USPTO and other offices at once.