Frequently asked questions

Primoris runs automated screening searches for inventors, founders and small businesses. You describe an invention, a name, a design or a beer, and Primoris searches public records, picks the closest candidates, compares them with what you submitted and writes a plain-English report.

There are four searches you can buy today: Trademark Search (Basic), Patent Search (Basic), Design Search and Beer Search. Two Advanced searches are planned and are coming soon.

See How it works for the steps and Sources for exactly what is searched.

1. Create an account and sign in. An account is required before you buy.
2. Pick a search: trademark, patent, design or beer.
3. Provide your input. You see the price, the turnaround and what is not covered before you pay.
4. Pay for the search by card, or apply a voucher at checkout.
5. Wait for the report. Usually it arrives within one hour, and sometimes it takes up to 24 hours.

You can close the page and come back. When the report is finished you get an email with the report attached as a PDF, and the report also appears in your account.

Ready to start? Create an account or read the full walkthrough on How it works.

Pick the search that matches the thing you want to protect or launch. If you are unsure, the "not covered" lists on each product page show what a search will not check.

A name and a logo are different things. Trademark Search (Basic) checks the name only; logo comparison is planned for the Advanced trademark search. Prices come from our price list and are shown again before you pay. See Pricing.

Yes. You need a free account before you buy a search. The account is where your orders, vouchers and finished reports are kept, so you can come back to them at any time.

• You register with your name and email address and a password that meets the password rules shown on the form.
• You confirm your email address using the link we send you.
• After that you can start a search, pay, and follow its progress from your account.

There is no subscription and no monthly fee. Registering does not charge you anything; you pay only when you buy a search. Create an account or sign in.

Every report is written to be read from the top down. The first page gives you the answer in plain language; the detail follows for anyone who wants to check it.

• A summary and risk rating that says how close the closest results are to your submission.
• The closest results, each with a verified citation and its status.
• A comparison to your submission: element by element for patents, drawing by drawing for designs, spelling, sound and goods or services for trademarks, and name conflicts, label findings and state notes for Beer Search.
• A Search Scope and Limitations section: what was searched, what was not, and the date the data is current through.
• Suggested next steps.

These are the sections listed on the sample report page. Details differ a little by search type.

The summary carries a rating of High, Medium or Low, with one sentence explaining it. It describes how close the closest results we found are to what you submitted.

• High: close results were found that deserve careful attention.
• Medium: some related results were found, with meaningful differences.
• Low: the closest results we found are further away from your submission.

Read the closest results and the "what drives the rating" text, not only the label.

When your report is finished we email it to your account address as a PDF attachment. The same report is also in your account, under Reports, newest first.

• On screen: open the report from your account to read it with headings and tables.
• Print or save as PDF: use the print option on the report page.
• Email: the PDF arrives at the address on your account. Email is not end-to-end encrypted, so keep your mailbox secure.

The on-screen report is the most accessible version; saved PDFs may not carry the same tagging and reading order. If you need another format, contact us and we will try to help. See also Accessibility.

If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder, then look in your account. Your report appears there even if the email is delayed.

Citations come only from search results. They are never written from the AI model's memory, and each cited patent or mark is checked against the source records before it appears in a report.

• Anything that cannot be verified is not presented as a finding.
• Similarity scores are ranking aids, not legal findings.
• Web findings, where included, are labelled unverified.
• If the evidence is thin, the report says so.

Reports are written with AI assistance, so you should still open the cited records and read them yourself, especially before you rely on a report for a decision. The Sources page explains how citations are handled.

Each report ends with a short list of practical next steps. They are framed as points to discuss with an attorney, and they are labelled as automated suggestions, not legal advice.

Typical directions include:

• Refine the invention, name or design to move away from close results.
• Look at particular cited records in more detail.
• Check the places the report says it did not search.
• Talk to a registered patent or trademark attorney before filing or relying on the report.

The next steps use the evidence the report found. They do not promise that a change will avoid a problem or lead to approval.

Patent Search (Basic) costs $99.99. It screens your invention description against prior art in these sources:

• US patents, 1976 to present.
• Published US patent applications.
• Foreign and PCT patent documents through the European Patent Office (EPO), at bibliographic and abstract level.
• Scholarly literature (titles and abstracts).

The closest references are compared element by element to your invention, and every cited patent is checked against the source records.

Full details are on the Patent Search (Basic) page.

Upload an invention description or draft as a PDF, DOCX or TXT file. You can add optional notes about the key features you want the search to focus on. Check the search page for current size limits.

A good description makes a better search. Try to include:

• What the invention is and what problem it solves.
• How it works, step by step or part by part.
• The features you think are new.
• Alternatives or variations you have considered.

You do not need patent-style claims, although a draft that has them can help. The uploaded file is deleted when the report completes or the job fails; see "What happens to my uploaded files?" below.

No. The patent report looks at one question: is your invention new and non-obvious compared with the prior art found? That is a patentability screen.

It does not give infringement, freedom-to-operate or clearance opinions. A report may show you a patent that an examiner could cite against a new application. It will not tell you that you may sell a product, or that you infringe something.

Reports use cautious wording such as "prior art we found that an examiner could cite" on purpose. See the Terms of Service for the full limits.

Patent applications are generally not public when they are filed. They typically become public about 18 months after filing, so very recent filings by others cannot be searched by anyone, including us.

That means a clear patent report does not rule out an earlier filing that has not yet been published. The same is true for:

• Products, websites, papers and public use that are not in our sources.
• Patent offices that cannot be reached through the EPO.
• Records the source data has not added yet, because we load published releases.

Each report lists what was not searched and the date its data is current through. See Sources and "Why is absence of results not proof?" in the legal section.

Trademark Search (Basic) costs $99.99. It screens a name or phrase against US federal trademark applications and registrations from USPTO records, with these checks:

• Exact matches.
• Similar spelling.
• Phonetic matches, meaning names that sound alike.
• The status of each conflicting mark and the goods and services it covers.

The goal is to show you, before you commit to a name, whether similar marks already exist for related goods or services. You get a plain-language risk summary and suggested next steps, and the report lists the closest marks with their owners and status so that you or an attorney can look at the records directly. See the Trademark Search (Basic) page for the full list of what it includes.

There is nothing to upload. You fill in a short form:

1. The mark: the name or phrase you want to check.
2. The goods or services it will cover.
3. A short description of the business.

Goods and services matter because the same word can be used by different businesses in unrelated fields. The search compares what your mark will be used for with what each similar mark covers.

Be specific. "Craft beer" or "mobile app for dog walking" gives a more useful comparison than "products" or "software".

Trademark Search (Basic) is limited to US federal records. It does not check:

• State trademark registrations.
• Unregistered (common-law) use, business names and domain names.
• Foreign and international registrations.
• Logo or design-mark image similarity.

A logo comparison and international coverage are planned for Trademark Search (Advanced), which is coming soon. The report is not an opinion on registrability or infringement.

No. A report cannot promise that a mark will be registered or that it will be free from challenge. Registration decisions are made by the USPTO, and the report is an automated screen of the records, not an attorney opinion.

What the report can do is show you the closest existing marks and explain how they relate to yours, so you can:

• Spot an obvious conflict before you spend money on branding or filing.
• See which goods and services overlap, and which marks are live or dead.
• Prepare better questions for a trademark attorney.

See Accuracy, limits and legal below, and the Terms of Service.

Design Search costs $99.99. It compares drawings of your design with US design patents.

• US design patents, 1976 to present.
• Visual comparison of your drawings against design patent drawings from all years.
• The closest designs compared in detail, with side-by-side findings.
• A plain-language summary and suggested next steps.

The visual comparison scores are automated screening scores, not legal findings. The report describes how we understood your design, what an observer notices first in the closest designs, which features are shared and where they differ, so you can see the reasoning and not only a number.

See the Design Search page for the full list of what is included and not included.

Upload drawings or images of the design, up to 6, and add a short description of the product. The comparison is visual, so the images matter most.

• Show the design on its own, on a plain background, without extra text or labels.
• Include several views, such as front, side and top, if the shape differs between them.
• Use clear, sharp images or line drawings.
• Leave out parts you are not trying to protect, where you can.

We cannot describe or fix your drawings for you. Check the search page for current file type and size limits. Uploaded images are deleted when your report completes or the job fails.

Design Search is limited to US design patents. It does not include:

• Foreign designs, for example EUIPO, Hague/WIPO, Japan, Korea or China.
• Products that are not shown in patent records.

Designs can also be missed because of how they were filed. A look-alike design that was filed under an unrelated title and class may not surface among the closest candidates.

International coverage for designs is a possible later addition. See Sources.

Beer Search costs $49.99. One report covers three things.

1. Name check: the beer name against US federal trademark records, brand and fanciful names in the federal beer label registry (TTB COLA, approved labels only) and the Oregon state trademark register. New York and Ohio brand registers are not searched.
2. Label check: the mandatory items on your label photos, read against the federal malt beverage labeling rules (27 CFR Part 7), including the government health warning wording.
3. State requirements: a checklist for up to 10 states you choose, showing what each state agency publishes about beer brand registration.

It also adds informational checks (a brewery listing check, a domain-name check and a web check) and links you can follow by hand. See the Beer Search page.

It does not:

• Judge type size, contrast or legibility, misleading claims, or formulas and ingredients.
• Search the New York or Ohio brand registers (requirement checklists are provided for those states).
• Cover COLA labels that are pending, refused or state-only: COLA names cover federally approved labels only.
• Cover unregistered or local brands, or beer rating sites.
• Cover wine, spirits or cider.

The domain check never says a name is available. Treat the whole report as a starting point for your own checks.

Upload the front label (required unless you tick "Name check only") and, if you can, the back label. The government warning and the name and address are usually on the back. Neck and other images are helpful too.

• Use a flat, straight-on, well-lit photo, or the label artwork file.
• Avoid glare, curved bottles and blurry images, which can leave items marked "cannot assess".
• Accepted formats are PNG, JPG, WEBP or PDF, up to 10 MB each, and up to 10 states can be chosen.

The label images are read by an AI service to extract the text, and the image files are deleted from our server when the report completes or the job fails. The report keeps only the text it reads. See Privacy below.

It is general information taken from the published guidance of state alcohol agencies. Every entry shows its source and the date it was last verified, so you can check it yourself.

• Detailed checklists cover 12 states: CA, TX, NY, PA, OH, FL, IL, MI, WA, MA, CO and NC.
• Some entries are marked lower confidence, and say so.
• Other states get a pointer to the state agency.

You pick up to 10 states when you order. See Sources for how current each source is.

The Sources page lists, for each search, what is searched and what is not. EPO foreign data is at bibliographic and abstract level.

Source data is loaded from each office's published releases, so very recent filings may not be in it yet. Every report states the date its data is current through in its Search Scope and Limitations section. Use that date, not the date you ordered.

• Trademarks: current through the latest daily USPTO files we have loaded.
• Beer COLA records: refreshed weekly; coverage is still growing and the initial backfill is still completing, and each report states the date range it covers.
• Oregon trademark register: refreshed monthly.
• OpenBreweryDB: refreshed quarterly.
• State beer guidance: shown with the source and the date it was last verified.

Each Beer Search report states, for every register, the date its data is current through and its limits.

Today the coverage is mainly United States, with European Patent Office data added for patents.

Foreign trademark and design registers are not searched. Broader international coverage is planned for the Advanced searches, which are coming soon; see the Advanced section below.

No. A Primoris report is an automated screening report. It is not legal advice and not an attorney opinion on patentability, infringement, validity or registrability.

• Using Primoris does not create an attorney-client relationship.
• Nobody at Primoris is acting as your lawyer by running or delivering a report.

The full wording is in the Terms of Service.

Yes. Every search has limits, and a report says so in its Search Scope and Limitations section. Things that can be missed include:

• Unpublished patent applications, typically for about 18 months after filing.
• Products, websites and public use outside the sources.
• Unregistered (common-law) trademark use, state registrations and business names.
• Anything outside the stated coverage, such as foreign registers.
• Items described in unusual words that the matching did not connect to your submission.

The search is automated. It ranks and compares candidates, and checks citations, but it is not a human review of every record. If the evidence is thin, the report says so.

We do not publish accuracy figures for our reports.

A report can only describe what it searched. If the closest results are weak or no results are close, that tells you about the sources and date range searched, not about the whole world.

So a good-looking result is a reason to take the next step, not to stop. Read the "not searched" list, think about whether any of those gaps matter to you, and ask an attorney if the decision is important or expensive to reverse.

No. A report does not guarantee that a patent will be granted, that a trademark or design will be registered, that a label will be approved, or that a third party will not object.

• Patent offices, trademark offices and regulators make their own decisions using their own search and law.
• Similarity scores and ratings are ranking aids, not legal findings.
• Our suggestions are labelled as automated suggestions, not legal advice.

What you get is a documented, dated look at the closest records we could find, which you can use to make a better-informed next move. See the Terms of Service and the sample report page.

You pay one flat price per search. There are no subscriptions, no recurring charges and no prepaid credits.

The price is shown before you pay, and nothing is charged until you check out. See Pricing for the full comparison of what each search covers and does not cover.

No. Primoris is pay per search. You buy exactly the search you want, when you want it.

• No monthly or annual plan.
• No recurring charges to cancel.
• No prepaid credits or tokens to run out or expire.
• No upgrade path between searches: an Advanced search, when it launches, is bought as its own search.

This keeps costs predictable: you only pay when you decide a search is worth running. Card payments are processed by Stripe, and we do not store full card numbers. See the Privacy Policy.

If you have a voucher or promotional code, you enter it at checkout and the price updates before you pay. A voucher can take a percentage or a fixed amount off, or make a search free.

A voucher can be refused for one of these reasons:

• It has expired, is no longer active, or has been fully used.
• It does not apply to the search type you chose.
• You have already used it the allowed number of times.

Vouchers have no cash value, are non-refundable and non-transferable, and may be limited, expire or be withdrawn. If a discount leaves a small balance, the card charge is at least the payment processor's minimum of $0.50.

Your vouchers can be viewed in your account. See the Refund Policy.

Purchases are non-refundable once a search has started. The system begins work right after payment completes, so this applies even if you are unhappy with the findings, the search did not find what you expected, or you change your mind.

You receive a full refund to your original payment method if we fail to deliver your report. That means:

• The job ends with a permanent error, or
• The job is held and cannot be completed within 24 hours.

To ask for a refund, email billing@onepointcto.com with your search ID and the email on your account. Refunds go through Stripe and usually show within 5 to 10 business days, depending on your bank. Contact us before starting a chargeback.

Full wording: Refund Policy.

Nothing is charged and nothing is run. An unpaid search expires after 24 hours, and the files you uploaded for it are deleted automatically.

• You can cancel an unpaid search at any time from your Orders page without penalty.
• You can also pay later from the Orders page if the search has not expired.
• If it expires, start the search again.

If you see the same charge twice, email billing@onepointcto.com with your payment details and we will investigate and refund any erroneous charge. See the Refund Policy or contact us.

Reports are usually delivered within one hour. Occasionally a report takes up to 24 hours.

You do not need to wait on the page. Close it and come back, or wait for the email. While the search is running its progress is shown in your account, and the finished report appears there.

• Busy periods, large uploads or slow outside services can add time.
• A job that is held and cannot be completed within 24 hours counts as a failure to deliver and is refunded in full.

Turnaround for the Advanced searches will be confirmed when they launch.

Uploaded files (patent descriptions, design drawings, beer label images) are written to a private server volume only while your report is prepared. They are deleted when the report completes or the job fails.

1. You upload a file and pay.
2. The system reads it to prepare the report.
3. The file is deleted when the report completes or the job fails.

If a job is held, or a deletion fails, the file stays until the job ends. An automated cleanup removes files that are not tied to an active job after about 48 hours. Files for unpaid searches are deleted when the search expires after 24 hours.

The report itself keeps text it needs, such as the text read from beer labels. See the Data Retention Policy.

Reports are stored in your account until you delete them or close your account. We do not expire them automatically.

• Delete a report any time with the Delete Report button in your account. That removes it from our live database.
• The database is backed up nightly in encrypted form to off-site storage. Backups are kept for a limited period (currently about 14 daily and about 13 monthly copies) and then rotate out.
• A report or account you delete may therefore remain in backups until they rotate out.

A copy of each finished report is also emailed to you as a PDF attachment, which is outside our control once delivered. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

We use outside services to produce reports. Parts of your submission go to them, and they apply their own terms:

• Anthropic (Claude models and web search tool): portions of your document text, descriptions, search queries and evidence summaries, plus beer label images, to analyze and write the report.
• Voyage AI: patent abstracts (not your uploaded file) for relevance ranking.
• OpenAlex, Europe PMC, arXiv and the Internet Archive: queries or URLs derived from your submission.
• USPTO and EPO: search queries.
• Stripe for payments and an email provider for notifications.

We do not use your data to train our own AI models, and our agreements with AI providers restrict use of API inputs for model training. We do not claim that any provider deletes data immediately.

We use administrative and technical measures to help protect your information, but no security measure is perfect.

• Passwords must meet complexity rules, and you can change yours in your account settings. Changing it signs your other devices out.
• You can sign out other sessions from the security page.
• You are responsible for keeping your password private and for activity under your account.
• Reports sent by email are not end-to-end encrypted, so keep your mailbox secure.

We do not intentionally log the contents of documents. Our logs record request metadata, such as time and job status, for billing and system monitoring. See the Privacy Policy.

Work through these steps in order:

1. Check your spam or junk folder, and any filters or quarantine on a work address.
2. Check that the address on your account is spelled correctly in your profile.
3. Look in your account. A finished report appears under Reports even if the email is late.
4. Allow a little time. Email can be delayed.
5. Still stuck? Contact us with the email address on your account.

Reports are sent as a PDF attachment, and some mail systems block or hold large attachments. If that is the case, open the report from your account instead. Reach us on the contact page.

1. Go to the forgot password page.
2. Enter the email address on your account.
3. Open the email we send and follow the link to choose a new password.
4. Sign in with the new password.

The new password has to meet the password rules shown on the form. If no email arrives, check spam and see the answer above.

When you are signed in you can also change your password or email address from the security page of your account. Changing your email address asks you to confirm the new address by link.

That can be normal. Most reports arrive within one hour, but some take up to 24 hours. Your search page shows its progress, and you do not need to keep it open.

• Under 24 hours: wait. You will get an email when it is done, and the report will be in your account.
• Failed or stuck beyond 24 hours: that counts as a failure to deliver, and you are entitled to a full refund.

To ask for help or a refund, email billing@onepointcto.com with your search ID and account email, or use the contact page. See the Refund Policy.

Use the contact page for general questions. For billing questions and refunds, email billing@onepointcto.com and include your search ID or payment reference.

It helps to tell us:

• The email address on your account.
• The search ID or payment reference.
• What you expected and what happened.
• The page address and browser, if the problem is on the website.

We cannot give legal advice or interpret a report as an attorney would. For that, talk to a registered patent or trademark attorney.

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA across the public site and the signed-in account area. That is a goal, not a certification, and the site has not been formally audited by an outside party.

• Dark mode, which follows your device until you choose.
• Text size controls that scale the whole page up to 200 percent.
• A Read page option that uses your browser's speech engine, where supported.
• A skip link, visible keyboard focus and keyboard-operable menus.
• Labelled forms, with errors and status changes announced to screen readers.
• Reduced-motion and higher-contrast support.

See the full Accessibility Statement.

We list these openly so you know what to expect:

• Payment pages are hosted by Stripe, so their accessibility is Stripe's responsibility. If you cannot complete a payment, contact us and we will try to help another way.
• Report text is written by an automated system and may be long, dense or uneven.
• Saved PDFs may not carry the same tagging and reading order as the on-screen report.
• Design searches are visual, and we cannot describe your drawings for you.
• Links to patent offices and other outside sites go to pages we do not control.

To report a barrier, use the contact page or the address in the Accessibility Statement. We try to reply within 2 business days.

Every report can be read on screen, printed, or saved as a PDF, and the text is selectable so you can copy it into a plain-text file or your own reader. The on-screen version is the most accessible one.

• Reports are structured with headings.
• You can increase text size or use dark mode from the toolbar at the top of every page.
• If you need another format, ask and we will try to help.

Closed answers on this FAQ page are not read by the Read page tool until you open them; use Expand all to open every answer first. Contact us about format needs.

Two deeper searches are planned. Neither is available to buy yet, and details will be confirmed when each launches.

Neither search can be bought or ordered today, and neither has a confirmed turnaround time yet. The price shown is the currently planned price and may change before launch. See Patent Search (Advanced) and Trademark Search (Advanced).

Basic searches are available now. Advanced searches add depth and reach, and cost more because they do more work. Based on current plans:

Compare the options on Pricing.

International coverage is planned for the Advanced searches, with limits we want to be honest about. Sources we are looking at include the EUIPO (EU trademarks and designs), IP Australia, and, for patents, more description-level data through the EPO.

• Some registers do not allow automated searching, so we will not use them. The WIPO Global Brand Database and Global Design Database are examples.
• Other offices do not provide a usable open data service, so they may not be included.
• Each report will list the registers it did not search.

See Sources for the current coverage.

We do not have a launch date to give. Each Advanced search depends on data access, testing and review, and some outside services need approvals before we can use them.

Until launch:

• You cannot buy an Advanced search.
• Prices and contents on the product pages are planned, not final.
• Basic searches continue to work as described on their product pages.

Check the product pages for status. If you need a logo or international check right now, a trademark attorney can run one.