You can find out who owns a business name for free by searching the public databases that match the type of name you’re looking at: the state Secretary of State for registered companies, the county clerk for “doing business as” filings, the USPTO for trademarks, SEC EDGAR for public companies, and ICANN’s lookup tool for websites. Each record-keeper holds a different piece of the picture, and some business structures are built to keep the actual human owner off the public record entirely.
Figure Out What Kind of Name You Have
The right database depends on what the name actually is. Four categories cover almost everything:
- A legal entity name is the official name an LLC, corporation, or limited partnership registered with a state. It appears on filings, contracts, and lawsuits, and the entity itself is the legal owner.
- A DBA (also called a fictitious or assumed name) is a public-facing name used by a sole proprietor, partnership, or company that operates under something other than its legal name. A DBA creates no separate entity and no liability shield.
- A trademark is a word, phrase, logo, or design identifying the source of goods or services. The trademark owner can be different from the business that actually sells the product. A parent company often owns the mark while a subsidiary runs operations.
- A domain name is a website address registered through a domain registrar, tracked separately from entity and trademark records.
One business can have all four, each searchable in a different place. If you aren’t sure which type you’re looking at, start with the state business registry and work outward.
Search the State Business Registry
The most reliable free search for a formally registered business is the Secretary of State’s office (or its equivalent) in the state where the business was formed. Every state keeps a public database of corporations, LLCs, and limited partnerships, and nearly all offer free online lookups.
Search by business name or, if you have one, the entity’s registration number. A typical result shows:
- The entity name and type (LLC, corporation, limited partnership, etc.).
- Formation date and current status: active, dissolved, or administratively revoked.
- The registered agent, meaning the person or company designated to accept legal documents. A registered agent is not necessarily an owner. Many businesses hire commercial agent services, which tells you nothing about who is behind the company.
- The principal office address.
What you often won’t see is an actual human owner. LLC formation documents typically list the filer and the management structure (member-managed or manager-managed) without naming every member.
Check the Annual Reports
Many states require annual or biennial reports to keep a business in good standing, and those filings tend to carry more ownership detail than the original formation paperwork. Corporations commonly list directors and principal officers. LLCs may list managers or members depending on how they’re structured. Pull up the entity’s filing history in the state database and read through the periodic reports.
When You Don’t Know the State
Start with the state where the business physically operates. Most small businesses register in their home state. Larger companies often incorporate in Delaware even when headquartered elsewhere. OpenCorporates aggregates registration data from more than 140 government registries worldwide and can be a useful starting point when the jurisdiction is unclear, though you should confirm whatever you find against the official state registry.1OpenCorporates. OpenCorporates
States That Allow Anonymous LLCs
A few states permit what are commonly called anonymous LLCs, where formation documents don’t require public disclosure of members or managers. Delaware, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming are the best known. If the business you’re researching formed in one of those states, the public filings may show nothing beyond a registered agent, and getting past that generally takes a court order or subpoena.
Search County DBA Records for Sole Proprietors
If the name is a “doing business as” name, those records usually sit with the county clerk’s office where the business operates, though some states handle DBA registration through a state agency instead. These filings exist specifically to tie an assumed name to the real person or entity behind it.
DBA records are the one search that reliably leads to a specific person. The registration typically includes the individual’s legal name (or every partner’s name), an address, and the fictitious name in use. Contact the clerk’s office in the county where the business operates, or check whether they offer online searches. Copy fees are generally modest and vary by jurisdiction.
Search the USPTO Trademark Database
If the name is a brand, use the USPTO’s free trademark search at tmsearch.uspto.gov to look up federal registrations and pending applications.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database This system replaced the older Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), which was retired in November 2023.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retiring TESS: What to Know About the New Trademark Search System
A trademark record shows the owner’s name and address, the mark’s current status, the goods or services it covers, and the filing or registration date. Remember that the trademark owner isn’t always the operating business. A holding company may own the mark and license it to the entity actually making sales. For current ownership of a specific mark, including transfers through assignments and mergers, use the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval system (TSDR) at tsdr.uspto.gov and look under “Current Owner(s) Information.”4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Assignments: Transferring Ownership or Changing Your Information
Use SEC EDGAR for Public Companies
If the business is publicly traded, the SEC’s EDGAR system is the richest free source. Public companies file disclosures that go well beyond anything in a state registry, and EDGAR’s full-text search reaches back more than 20 years.5U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Search Filings The filings most useful for ownership questions:
- Annual reports (Form 10-K) list principal officers and directors.
- Proxy statements (DEF 14A) disclose executive compensation and major shareholders.
- Schedule 13D filings are required when any person or group acquires more than 5% of a company’s voting shares.
Between those three, you can usually identify both the people running the company and its largest shareholders.
Look Up the Domain if It’s a Website
For a website, the traditional tool was a WHOIS lookup. As of January 2025, ICANN treats the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) as the authoritative source for domain registration data, and WHOIS is being phased out.6ICANN. ICANN Update: Launching RDAP; Sunsetting WHOIS ICANN’s lookup tool at lookup.icann.org uses RDAP and falls back to WHOIS when RDAP data isn’t available.7ICANN Lookup. ICANN Lookup – Registration Data Lookup Tool
Domain lookups are less useful than they used to be. Since the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect in 2018, registrars hide most personal registrant data from public results. If the owner also paid for a privacy protection service, even accredited third parties with gated access won’t see the real registrant, and getting that information typically requires a court order. You’ll still see the registrar name, name servers, and registration dates, but the person or company behind the site is often invisible without legal process.
When a domain lookup comes back blank, try searching the business name together with terms like “owner” or “founded by.” Company “about” pages and professional networking profiles sometimes name the people behind a site.
Why the Trail Sometimes Goes Cold
Even after working through every free database, you may still not find a specific human name. That isn’t automatically a red flag. Legitimate reasons for layered privacy include asset protection, personal safety, and keeping business interests separate. The common barriers:
- Commercial registered agents sit between the public record and the owner. The name in the state database belongs to the agent, not the person who owns the business.
- Anonymous LLC states don’t require member or manager names in public filings.
- Holding companies and nested entities can stack an LLC inside an LLC inside another LLC. Each layer is its own search, and one privacy-friendly state anywhere in the chain can end the trail.
- Domain privacy services and GDPR restrictions block most personal data in registration records.
If you need ownership information for a legal matter and the public record won’t yield it, an attorney can use subpoenas and other formal discovery tools to compel disclosure. For business due diligence, a corporate investigation or skip-tracing service may be able to pull together records that aren’t easily reached on your own.
One Boundary: The Corporate Transparency Act
The Corporate Transparency Act was originally built to require most U.S. businesses to report their beneficial owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which would have created a federal database of business ownership. In March 2025, FinCEN issued an interim final rule exempting all U.S.-formed entities and their beneficial owners from that reporting requirement.8Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN Removes Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements for U.S. Companies and U.S. Persons The reporting obligation now applies only to entities formed under foreign law that have registered to do business in a U.S. state or tribal jurisdiction.9Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting If you’re researching a domestic business, the CTA database isn’t a tool you can use.