# The best brand ownership lookup tools in 2026, by use case

The best free ways to find out who owns a brand in 2026, by use case: USPTO TSDR for the primary trademark record, OpenCorporates for company registries, Brand411 and Who Owns That Brand for quick app lookups, Ethos for sourced ownership plus conduct. As of August 2026.

## The list at a glance

| Use case | Pick | Price | Sources cited? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The primary US trademark record | USPTO TSDR / Assignment Center | Free | It is the primary source |
| The underlying company registry filing, worldwide | OpenCorporates | Free search; paid API/bulk | Official registry data |
| Fast photo or name lookup, any category | Brand411 | Free; Premium removes limits | No published methodology (as of Aug 2026) |
| Browsing beauty and fashion by parent | Who Owns That Brand | Free | General source list, not per-entry |
| Sourced ownership plus conduct record | Ethos | Who-owns records free; app pricing at launch | Dated source on every fact |

## USPTO TSDR and Assignment Center, best for the primary trademark record

When you want the actual government record, not a summary of it, this is where every US ownership claim should ultimately trace back to. TSDR (tsdr.uspto.gov) shows a trademark's registered owner, filing date, status, and goods and services class. Assignment Center (assignmentcenter.uspto.gov) shows recorded ownership transfers, when a mark's registration moved from one company to another, which is exactly the "trademark record to operating entity" step in tracing a brand's real owner. Both are free and require no account for basic search.

[How to use these registries yourself →](https://ethosscan.com/blog/how-to-find-who-owns-a-brand-free-registry-method/)

## OpenCorporates, best for the underlying company registry filing

Trademark ownership tells you who holds the mark; company registry data tells you what that entity actually is, when it was formed, and where. OpenCorporates aggregates official filings directly from government sources across more than 140 jurisdictions worldwide, per its own site, so it's not limited to the US. Basic web search is free; its API and bulk-data access are paid, for higher-volume use.

[How to use OpenCorporates alongside a trademark search →](https://ethosscan.com/blog/how-to-find-who-owns-a-brand-free-registry-method/)

## Brand411, best for a fast photo or name lookup

The most convenient option in this list. Photograph a logo or type a brand name and Brand411 returns the parent company, HQ, and sibling brands under the same owner, plus a community rating and suggested alternatives, per its own FAQ. Free to download on iOS and Android, US only per its own site; Premium removes a daily lookup limit and ads. What it doesn't do, as of August 2026, is publish a methodology or source per entry.

[Ethos vs Brand411 →](https://ethosscan.com/compare/ethos-vs-brand411/) · [Brand411 alternatives →](https://ethosscan.com/alternatives/brand411-alternatives/)

## Who Owns That Brand, best for browsing beauty and fashion by parent company

A free, purpose-built directory for one niche: beauty, fashion, and personal care, browsable alphabetically or organized by parent company, with a quiz feature. Its own About page is candid that most entries are "researched by hand from public sources," naming company sites, SEC filings, Wikipedia, and business news as source categories generally, without a dated citation tied to each specific claim on the brand pages checked.

[Ethos vs Who Owns That Brand →](https://ethosscan.com/compare/ethos-vs-whoownsthatbrand/) · [Who Owns That Brand alternatives →](https://ethosscan.com/alternatives/whoownsthatbrand-alternatives/)

## Ethos, best for a sourced ownership record plus the wider conduct picture

Ours, so read this knowing that. Ethos's who-owns records show the ownership chain, brand to operating entity to ultimate parent, with a dated primary source on each link, free and unlimited on the web. The trade-off is real: Ethos does not (yet) offer photo-based logo search the way Brand411 does, and its brand coverage (392 brands, 440 dossiers as of August 2026) is smaller than a full trademark registry. Where Ethos goes further than every tool above is what happens after you know who owns a brand: the iOS app (early access) opens a dossier of dated, cited facts across 15 value axes, political donations, labor record, environment, cause campaigning, and more, scored to weights you set privately, on your device.

[See the free who-owns records →](https://ethosscan.com/who-owns/) · [Join the Ethos waitlist →](https://ethosscan.com/)

## How this list was made

Every claim about Brand411 and Who Owns That Brand was checked against that product's own public website in August 2026, and is dated in the text; the Nike entry referenced for Who Owns That Brand was checked directly. USPTO's TSDR and Assignment Center and OpenCorporates are described from their own official sites. Ethos is ranked by its actual differentiator, a dated source per fact plus the wider conduct record, not claimed to be the fastest or the largest directory, where a competitor is genuinely stronger on speed or category depth, that's stated plainly above. Corrections: [corrections@opsibyte.com](mailto:corrections@opsibyte.com)

## Best brand ownership lookup tools FAQ

**What is the best free way to find out who owns a brand?**
For the primary US trademark record, USPTO's TSDR and Assignment Center. For the company registry filing worldwide, OpenCorporates. For a fast app answer, Brand411. For browsing beauty and fashion by parent, Who Owns That Brand. For a sourced record plus the wider conduct picture, Ethos's who-owns records, free on the web.

**Do Brand411 and Who Owns That Brand cite their sources?**
Neither publishes a dated, per-entry citation as of August 2026. Brand411 describes a database and image recognition with no methodology page; Who Owns That Brand names general source categories on an About page without linking a source to each specific claim.

**Who wrote this comparison?**
The Ethos team, one of the five tools is ours, so the page names that interest, concedes where the free government registries are the more authoritative primary source, and sources every competitor claim from their own public sites.

## Keep researching

- [How to find who owns a brand, the free registry method](https://ethosscan.com/blog/how-to-find-who-owns-a-brand-free-registry-method/)
- [Free who-owns ownership records](https://ethosscan.com/who-owns/)
- [All head-to-head comparisons](https://ethosscan.com/compare/)
- [All alternatives pages](https://ethosscan.com/alternatives/)

Ethos is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any other product named above, including USPTO, WIPO, or OpenCorporates. Word marks identify the products only. This page compares products and public tools, not corporate conduct.

---
Updated August 2026
Source: https://ethosscan.com/best/best-brand-ownership-lookup-tools/