Best for
Best for applicants and owners of German trade marks who want to search the official register and watch it for new filings themselves.
Trademark Search & Monitoring Comparison
DPMAregister vs. USPTO Trademark Search
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for applicants and practitioners who want to search the US federal trademark register themselves before filing with the USPTO.
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | DPMAregister | USPTO Trademark Search |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free of charge The DPMA states that DPMAregister and the DPMAkurier alerts can be used free of charge; the DPMA connectPlus interface is supplied under an agreement against payment of the marginal cost of providing the data. | Free The USPTO describes its search resources as free. A free USPTO.gov account is needed for the beta image search and custom case summaries, and for an API key. |
| Output | Configurable result lists that can be organised and downloaded, and register entries that print or download as a complete register extract | Not stated |
| API | DPMA connectPlus, an automated interface to the register and publication data, supplied under an agreement | TSDR API for trademark case status, documents and images, with an API key tied to a USPTO.gov account |
| Languages | English and German | Not stated |
| Hosting | Web app at register.dpma.de | Web app at tmsearch.uspto.gov |
| Made in | Germany | United States |
| Registers and countries covered | German trade marks filed since 1 January 1998, registered German marks since October 1894 insofar as they were not deleted before 1 January 1995, an excerpt of rejected and withdrawn German marks, EU trade marks from the EUIPO, and WIPO international registrations where Germany or the EU is designated. The DPMA does not warrant the accuracy and completeness of the EU and international data and points to the EUIPO and WIPO databases for a full search | Federally registered and pending US trademarks in the USPTO database. For a comprehensive clearance the USPTO lists further sources outside the tool: the Trademark Official Gazette, state trademark and business registries, domain name registries, Madrid Monitor, WIPO's Global Brand Database and EUIPO's TMview. |
| Word, phonetic and image search | Basic, advanced and expert searches; the expert search queries register fields such as mark, type of mark, proprietor, classes, goods and services, colours and dates with comparison and proximity operators and wildcards, and figurative elements are searchable by Vienna Classification. The DPMA states that a similarity search is not possible | Word searches by field tag such as CM for the combined mark, with exact phrases in quotes and regular expressions for alternative spellings and pronunciations, design search codes from the Design Search Code Manual, design searches by textual description, and a beta image search from an uploaded image for logged-in users |
| Goods, services and Nice classes | Classes and goods and services are search fields of their own, with a link to the internationally harmonised classification of goods and services | A coordinated class filter in expert mode and the CC field tag find marks in related international and US classes, and the Trademark ID Manual lists acceptable goods and services wording |
| Clearance and conflict screening | A register search and not a clearance opinion: the DPMA does not check during the application procedure whether identical or similar marks are already registered, refers to commercial providers for similarity searches, and names patent information centres that search on your behalf for a fee | A search tool and not a screening: the USPTO calls its database one essential step of a clearance search, says there is no surefire way to uncover all potentially conflicting trademarks, and suggests a trademark screening service or a US-licensed attorney for an in-depth search |
| Watch and alerts | DPMAkurier sends automated e-mails daily, weekly or monthly on new publications and register changes, monitoring by file or publication number, by name, by class, by name and class, or user-defined; registration is needed before first use, the number of monitoring searches is not limited, and the DPMA states it can be used free of charge | Status alerts come from separate USPTO services: MyUSPTO can send email updates when the status of an application changes, and Trademark Center has a docketing feature that tracks the status of applications filed through it |
| Reports and exports | Result lists can be configured, organised and downloaded, a register entry prints or downloads as a complete register extract, and issues of the Markenblatt trade mark journal from 1950 onwards can be downloaded | Logged-in users can choose which sections appear on a case summary for a record and print or save it; a result opens most of the TSDR information without leaving the search system |
| Integrations and API | DPMA connectPlus gives automated online access to the register and publication data with the query options of the expert search, plus weekly data packages for trade marks, usually on Fridays; data is supplied on the basis of an agreement against payment of the marginal cost of providing it | TSDR API for programmatic requests for trademark case status, documents and images, requiring an API key tied to a USPTO.gov account; trademark bulk data is downloadable from the USPTO Bulk Data Storage System and further data products sit on the USPTO Open Data Portal |
| Deployment | Browser-based | Browser-based |
| Support | Phone | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Live online demos and webinars, On-site training | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price DPMAregister Free of charge USPTO Trademark Search Free
- Hosting DPMAregister Web app at register.dpma.de USPTO Trademark Search Web app at tmsearch.uspto.gov
- Made in DPMAregister Germany USPTO Trademark Search United States
- API DPMAregister DPMA connectPlus, an automated interface to the register and publication data, supplied under an agreement USPTO Trademark Search TSDR API for trademark case status, documents and images, with an API key tied to a USPTO.gov account
- Registers and countries covered DPMAregister German trade marks filed since 1 January 1998, registered German marks since October 1894 insofar as they were not deleted before 1 January 1995, an excerpt of rejected and withdrawn German marks, EU trade marks from the EUIPO, and WIPO international registrations where Germany or the EU is designated. The DPMA does not warrant the accuracy and completeness of the EU and international data and points to the EUIPO and WIPO databases for a full search USPTO Trademark Search Federally registered and pending US trademarks in the USPTO database. For a comprehensive clearance the USPTO lists further sources outside the tool: the Trademark Official Gazette, state trademark and business registries, domain name registries, Madrid Monitor, WIPO's Global Brand Database and EUIPO's TMview.
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
DPMAregister
Strengths
- Covers EU trade marks and international registrations protected in Germany as well as German marks
- Watch alerts by name, class or file number, sent daily, weekly or monthly
- Expert search with proximity operators and Vienna Classification codes
- Telephone hotline for search questions and online-assisted searches with DPMA experts
Limitations
- No similarity search, as the DPMA itself notes
- The DPMA does not warrant the accuracy and completeness of the EU and international data
- Covers marks with protection in Germany only
USPTO Trademark Search
Strengths
- Free, from the office that examines US federal applications
- Field tags and regular expressions for spelling and pronunciation variants
- Coordinated class filter for related goods and services across classes
- TSDR API and bulk data for trademark records
Limitations
- Covers the federal register only; state, common-law and foreign marks need other sources
- Image search is a beta for logged-in users, and the design search codes page still states the system does not allow reverse image searching
- Field tag syntax takes practice; the USPTO publishes separate handouts and webinars for it
Plans
Pricing
DPMAregister
- DPMAregister search Free of charge Online search of the official register and publication data, from the beginner's search to the expert search.
- DPMAkurier alerts Free of charge Alert e-mails on new publications and register changes; registration needed before first use.
- DPMA connectPlus Not stated Automated interface to the register data, supplied under an agreement against payment of the marginal cost of providing the data.
USPTO Trademark Search
- Free Free Public search of the USPTO; a free USPTO.gov account adds the beta image search, custom case summaries and an API key.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
DPMAregister
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
USPTO Trademark Search
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Before sending, the author has to confirm three things: that they have used the product themselves, that they work neither for the vendor nor for a competitor, and that nobody is paying them for the review. We also ask whether the vendor invited them to write it. That answer is required, either answer is accepted, and it stays with the review.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
DPMAregister https://www.dpma.de/english/search/dpmaregister/index.html · checked against the official source on 2026-11-10
USPTO Trademark Search https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search · checked against the official source on 2026-11-07
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.