Reference · Updated August 2026
Brand-ownership glossary
The terms you need to read a trademark record and trace a brand to its ultimate parent, defined plainly.
- Registrant / trademark owner of record
- The legal entity listed as the current owner of a trademark registration in USPTO records. It is the starting point for ownership research, but not always the ultimate parent.
- Assignor
- The party transferring ownership of a trademark in an assignment.
- Assignee
- The party receiving ownership of a trademark in an assignment, i.e., the new owner.
- Trademark assignment
- A recorded transfer of trademark ownership from one entity to another. Public at the USPTO Assignment Center.
- Operating company
- The entity that actually runs a brand’s business day to day. It may or may not be the same entity that holds the trademark or the ultimate parent.
- Holding company
- A company that exists to own other companies or assets (including trademarks) rather than to operate a business itself. Alphabet Inc. is a holding company above Google.
- Parent company
- A company that owns a controlling interest in another company (a subsidiary).
- Ultimate parent
- The company at the top of the ownership chain that is not itself owned by another company. This is the answer to who really owns it.
- Subsidiary
- A company controlled by another company (its parent), usually through majority ownership.
- Ultimate beneficial owner (UBO)
- The natural person(s) who ultimately own or control an entity. Relevant for privately held brands where the chain ends in individuals rather than a public company.
- DBA (doing business as)
- A trade name a company operates under that differs from its registered legal name. A brand can be a DBA rather than a separate entity.
- SEC EDGAR
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s public database of company filings. A public company’s 10-K or 20-F annual report lists the brands and subsidiaries it owns.
- TSDR
- Trademark Status and Document Retrieval, the USPTO system for viewing a specific registration’s live status, owner, and documents.
- Madrid System / WIPO
- The international trademark registration system administered by WIPO. The WIPO Global Brand Database is where you search international marks.
See these terms in action in the step-by-step ownership method.