How to use the Trademark Clearance Triage agent skill

What the clearance skill makes the agent do

The skill runs a triage, not a clearance opinion. The source states that it never concludes a mark is clear, and that a lawyer must review the result. A "no obvious conflicts" result only means the triage did not find anything.

The workflow has these parts: it collects intake details (the mark, goods or services, classes, jurisdictions, and how the mark appears in use), runs a knockout check for intrinsic bars such as generic, descriptive, deceptive, geographic, surname, false connection, prohibited matter, and functional marks, runs a similar-marks search against connected tools, walks the likelihood-of-confusion factors for the applicable circuit (du Pont, Polaroid, Sleekcraft, or others), and writes a triage memo with recommended next steps.

• Flags each factor and never concludes that a mark is not confusingly similar.
• If no search tools are connected, it says so in the output and proceeds with factor analysis only.

Install the clearance skill

You can install the skill in one of two ways. Download the ZIP from the item page and unzip it into your personal skills folder at ~/.claude/skills/, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder if you want it limited to one project.

Alternatively, upload the ZIP in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP

Set up your practice profile

The skill reads a practice profile file at ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/ip-legal/CLAUDE.md. It uses this file for the user's role, default jurisdictions, enforcement posture, available integrations, and decision posture.

If that file still contains placeholder text, the skill will stop and point you to the cold-start interview. You can instead reply "provisional" to run against generic defaults (US jurisdiction, middle risk appetite, lawyer role, no playbook). Provisional output is tagged so you can see that it was not tailored.

How to trigger the skill with natural requests

You can invoke the skill with its slash form, or describe what you need. The source's description says the skill applies when a new mark is proposed, when you ask whether a mark is available or want a knockout search, or when you want likelihood-of-confusion factors assessed before a full professional search.

If you give only the mark, the skill will ask for the rest in one batch of questions: exact spelling and stylization, goods or services, classes, jurisdictions, and how the mark appears in use.

• Is "APEXLEAF" available for outdoor apparel?
• Run a knockout search on this brand name for a consumer app.
• Assess the likelihood-of-confusion factors for this logo before we talk to counsel.

What the skill needs and what it can reach

The skill needs the practice profile file described above. Connected search integrations are optional: Solve Intelligence, CourtListener, or Descrybe via MCP. The source says the similar-marks step is limited to factor analysis if none are connected.

The skill does not run scripts, according to the item details, but it does use the network through the connected integrations. It does not perform a full search across USPTO, state, common-law, international, and domain sources itself. Those require a professional search.

• Runs scripts: no
• Uses network: yes (through connected search tools)
• Optional integrations: Solve Intelligence, CourtListener, Descrybe

Safety notes and what the output is not

Under-calling a conflict is the costly error here. The skill is designed to over-flag rather than clear a mark, because an attorney can narrow a long list in review but a missed conflict can lead to lawsuits. Do not treat the output as proof that a mark is safe to adopt, file, or invest in.

Each output begins with a first-pass disclaimer, and a registered trademark attorney should evaluate the mark before anyone adopts or files it.

• Do not rely on a clean result to clear a mark.
• Use the memo as a structured first pass to hand to counsel.
• Consider the full professional search that the skill does not perform.

Tips for getting a useful triage

Give the skill the actual thing a customer sees, such as a consumer app, enterprise API, physical product, or service, because the classes depend on it. Provide exact spelling and any stylization, and list taglines or adjacent product names that appear with the mark, since these affect how the mark is seen in market.

If you have connected search tools, confirm they are connected before running the triage so the similar-marks step is not limited to factor analysis.

• Describe the goods or services in a sentence or two.
• Name the countries you plan to use, register, or enforce in.
• Ask for the memo to be written to the matter folder if a matter is active.