Delaware business name search
Check name availability against the Delaware Secretary of State database
Delaware business formation by the numbers
State-level data from official sources on business formation activity in Delaware.
What the filing data shows about Delaware
Applicants with a Delaware address filed 5,749 federal trademark applications in 2023, up from 3,669 in 2015. That is a rise of 57%, one of the steepest increases in the country over those eight years.
The national pattern runs the same way. Florida (up 39%), Texas (up 36%), North Carolina (up 28%) and Georgia (up 20%) posted comparable gains, while California (down 4%), New York (down 10%) and Illinois (down 7%) all lost volume over the same period.
The most common category for Delaware filings since 2019 is Class 009, covering computer hardware, software and electronic apparatus.
A trademark and a Delaware registration are different things
Registering an entity with the Delaware Secretary of State establishes that name for that entity within Delaware. A federal trademark is granted by the USPTO, applies nationally, and covers only the goods or services it is registered under.
The two records are separate, which is why a name can clear a Delaware entity search and still overlap an existing federal mark, and why a federal mark can exist for a name no Delaware entity has registered.
One note on these figures. The USPTO records an applicant’s mailing address rather than where a business operates, and Wilmington accounts for about 37% of Delaware filings while holding roughly 7% of its population, reflecting Delaware’s long-standing role as a corporate home. Read these counts as filings tied to a Delaware address rather than as local business activity.
Trademark figures on this page come from the USPTO Trademark Case Files dataset, which covers applications through March 2024. Counts are applications filed by applicants with a Delaware mailing address, and reflect filings rather than registrations granted.