# Check Trademarks: Screen Your Listings Before You Upload

Source: https://merchtitans.com/docs/trademark-check (updated 2026-11-06)

Check trademarks is an optional button on Easy Mode step 3. It checks each design's listing text against trademark records for the Nice classes you choose, plus a built-in list of risky words, and gives each design a result badge. It doesn't block uploads, and spreadsheet uploads don't run it.

## Steps

1. **Fill in your listings.** On Easy Mode step 3, write the titles, tags and other text, by hand or with Write listings with AI.
2. **Click Check trademarks.** The Nice Classes for Trademark Check window opens.
3. **Choose the classes.** Keep the classes for the products you sell ticked, then click Start Check.
4. **Read the result.** When the check finishes, a message sums up the results and each design card shows a badge.
5. **Open the details.** Click a design's badge to see each trademark match with its owner, serial number, classes and status, plus any flagged words.
6. **Fix the matches.** Click Fix All Trademarks to let AI rewrite the affected fields on every design, or click Fix Trademark on one design.
7. **Edit what's left.** Change any remaining flagged words by hand, then run Check trademarks again before you press Start upload.

> **Not legal advice** The trademark check is a screening tool, not legal advice. A clean result doesn't mean a listing is free of trademark problems, and a match doesn't always mean you can't use a word. For a decision about a specific phrase, talk to a trademark attorney.

## What the check does and doesn't do

- **It's optional.** **Start upload** doesn't need it and doesn't read its result.
- **It's in Easy Mode only.** [Spreadsheet uploads](https://merchtitans.com/docs/spreadsheet-upload) never run it.
- **It always checks for the US marketplace**, whichever marketplaces you turned on.
- **It checks your listing text**, not the artwork.

You need at least one design and one marketplace turned on. Otherwise you'll see "Please add at least one design before checking trademarks." or "Please select at least one platform before checking trademarks."

## Choose the Nice classes

Trademarks are registered for classes of goods, called Nice classes. When you click **Check trademarks**, the **Nice Classes for Trademark Check** window lists six, all ticked to start with:

| Class | Label in the app |
|---|---|
| 009 | Electronics, phone accessories, PopSockets |
| 018 | Bags, backpacks, luggage |
| 020 | Furniture, cushions, pillows |
| 021 | Drinkware, mugs, tumblers |
| 024 | Textiles and fabric goods |
| 025 | Clothing and apparel |

Tick the classes that match the products you sell and click **Start Check**. If you untick them all, the check uses all six. Your choice is remembered until you close the app.

## What gets checked

Each field that has text is checked on its own: brand, title, both Amazon bullets, description, tags and the TeePublic primary tag. Merch Titans sends the text to a trademark service with the classes you picked and checks 10 designs at a time. Each match comes back with its registration details, such as the owner, serial number and classes.

The same text also runs through a built-in word list:

| Risk | Words on the list |
|---|---|
| Critical | Profanity, hate speech, racist terms |
| High | Forbidden terms, and 26 brand names such as Nike, Disney and Pokemon |
| Medium | Misleading words, material words and product-type words |
| Low | Size and fit words |

### Pass or fail

A design passes when its overall risk is clean, low or medium, and fails when it's high or critical.

- Any high-risk trademark match makes the design critical.
- More than 2 medium-risk matches make it high.
- 1 or 2 medium-risk matches still pass.
- A critical or high-risk word from the word list fails the design.

## Read the results

When the check finishes, you'll see one of these:

- "All designs passed trademark check!"
- "Trademark check complete. Some designs have potential trademark issues. Review the results below."
- "The trademark check couldn't finish for 2 of 10 designs. Please try again before uploading." (with your own numbers)

Each design card then shows a badge:

| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| **No Issues** | The design passed. It can still have 1 or 2 single-word matches highlighted under its fields. |
| **Medium Risk** | The design failed on single-word trademark matches. |
| **High Risk** | The design failed, and at least one match is a trademark of several words. |
| **Low Risk** | The design failed without a trademark match: a word from the built-in list, such as profanity, was flagged. |
| **Check Failed** | The trademark service couldn't be reached, so the design wasn't checked. |

> Click the badge on every design that has one, even **No Issues**. The badge is a summary. The details list every match and every flagged word.

Clicking a badge opens the details:

- **Trademark Matches** with a count. Each match shows its owner, **Serial Number**, **Registration Office**, **Classification**, **Registration Date**, **Type**, **Status** and **Risk**.
- **Validation Results** for words from the built-in list.

Under each field with a match, the card shows "Trademark matches:" followed by each mark and its risk. Trademarks of several words show as HIGH and single words as MEDIUM. The Fix all window calls these red and yellow highlights.

If the service can't be reached for a design, you'll see "The trademark service couldn't be reached, so this listing wasn't checked." followed by the reason, and the badge says **Check Failed**. Run the check again.

Results aren't kept when you close the app. Run **Check trademarks** again after you restart.

## Fix all trademarks

Once at least one design has a trademark match, a **Fix All Trademarks** button appears with the number of designs, for example **Fix All Trademarks (3)**. The count includes designs that passed with highlighted matches.

Click it to open **Fix All Trademark Issues**. Choose what to remove:

- **Single-word trademarks (yellow highlights)**
- **Multi-word trademarks (red highlights)**

Both are ticked to start with. Click **Fix All Trademarks**. For each design, Merch Titans:

- finds the fields that contain a selected trademark;
- asks the AI to rewrite only those fields, with the trademarks listed as words it must not use, and removes them from the new text too;
- checks the rewritten fields again, and repeats with any new matches, up to 5 attempts per design;
- checks the whole listing once more at the end.

It works on 5 designs at a time, and the button shows how many are done.

When it finishes, you'll see "Trademark fix complete!" with counts for "Fully fixed:", "Partially fixed (may need manual review):" and "Failed:". Review the partly fixed and failed designs by hand.

| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| "No designs with trademark issues to fix." | No design has a trademark match. |
| "Please select at least one trademark type to remove before fixing." | Tick single-word, multi-word or both. |
| "Already fixing trademarks. Please wait." | A fix is still running. |
| "Fix all trademarks failed:" followed by a reason | The fix stopped. Try again. |

### Fix one design

A design that fails with trademark matches has a **Fix Trademark** button. It opens **Fix Trademark Issues**, which lists the **Affected fields** and the **Terms to exclude**. Click **Fix Trademarks**. It tries up to 5 times, and the button shows "Attempt 1/5..." and then "Checking 1/5...". When it works, a message says the design was fixed and how many attempts it took.

> Neither fix button changes words from the built-in word list, such as profanity. Edit those yourself, then run **Check trademarks** again. Both buttons rewrite your text with AI, so read the new text before you upload.

When you're happy with the listings, press **Start upload** to continue with [Easy Mode](https://merchtitans.com/docs/easy-mode).

## FAQ

### Does Merch Titans check trademarks on every upload?

No. The trademark check is optional and runs only when you click Check trademarks in Easy Mode. Spreadsheet uploads never run it, and Start upload doesn't need it.

### Which country does the trademark check cover?

The US. The check always runs for the US marketplace, whichever marketplaces you sell on.

### What does the trademark check compare my text against?

Trademark records for the Nice classes you pick, plus a built-in list of risky words such as profanity and well-known brand names. Each trademark match shows its owner, serial number, classes and status.

### Does No Issues mean my listing is safe to upload?

Not necessarily. It means the check found nothing that fails for the classes you picked. A design can pass with one or two single-word matches, and the check isn't legal advice, so read the highlighted fields and ask a trademark attorney when in doubt.

### Why didn't Fix all trademarks remove a flagged word?

Fix all trademarks only rewrites trademark matches. Words from the built-in word list, such as profanity, aren't changed, so edit them yourself.