Fresh USPTO Clearance Check for the SQUARELY Mark Before Filing

The question

Has any third party filed a "Squarely"-adjacent mark in IC 009 (software/apps), IC 016 (printed books), IC 028 (games/toys), or IC 041 (entertainment services) since the 2026-04-25 vault clearance search? Context: RDCO is about to file the SQUARELY word mark for its puzzle-book + iOS-app brand and needs a fresh pre-filing clearance pass.

What we already know (from the vault)

• Per [[2026-04-25-squarely-current-state-review]], a USPTO search verified on 2026-04-25 found no live mark for "Squarely," "Squarely Puzzles," or "Squarely Up To You" as a puzzle brand. It surfaced exactly two unrelated marks: SQUARELY STYLISH (glassware, DEAD) and SQUARELY NATURAL (pet food, LIVE, different owner, unrelated class). That is the baseline this brief is checking against.
• Per [[2026-06-13-squarely-uspto-trademark-filing-strategy]], the filing plan is a standard-character SQUARELY word mark, IC 016 (printed puzzle books) first, expanding to IC 009/041/028 at iOS launch. That brief explicitly listed this fresh-clearance question as an open follow-up and flagged that the most likely substantive risk is a Section 2(e)(1) merely-descriptive refusal (square-grid puzzles), not a likelihood-of-confusion (LOC) collision.
• The same strategy brief noted TEAS Plus/Standard were abolished Jan 18 2025 (now one $350/class base fee) and that a direct pending filing does NOT unlock Amazon Brand Registry — only a registered mark or an IP-Accelerator pending filing does.

What the web says

(Automated pass via WebSearch + WebFetch of publicly indexed records. The live USPTO Trademark Search at tmsearch.uspto.gov and the Justia/Trademarkia record pages all block automated fetch — see confidence caveat below. No registration could be directly confirmed or ruled out.)

• No USPTO "Squarely" puzzle/game/software registration surfaced in indexed search results across the IC 009/016/028/041 query set. Generic searches returned class-explainer pages and unrelated marks (e.g. IRRATIONAL SQUARES, an IC 009/028/041 puzzle-game application — a different mark, not "Squarely"-adjacent enough to block).
• New common-law use signal (NOT in the 2026-04-25 baseline): a Steam puzzle game titled "Squarely" by developer Hex Tree Games, released Nov 21, 2025 (Steam). This is a directly competing-category use of the exact word in the digital-games space (maps to IC 009/041). No evidence found of a corresponding USPTO filing, but it establishes a third party making commercial use of "Squarely" for a puzzle game.
• Additional pre-existing "Squarely"-name games (mostly predate the baseline, common-law not registrations): "Squarely Blue" on Steam (Steam), "Mr. Squarely" on Poki (Poki), and an open-source Python "squarely" puzzle game on GitHub (GitHub). These are name-collisions in the puzzle-game category, again with no surfaced USPTO registration.
• The two baseline marks could not be re-verified live (Justia/Trademarkia 403'd; live USPTO search not automatable). Nothing in the indexed results contradicted them, but their current status was not re-confirmed this pass.
• No "Squarely"-adjacent mark surfaced specifically in IC 016 (printed books) — the must-have first-filing class — in any indexed result. The collisions found are all in the digital/games space (IC 009/028/041), not printed matter.

Convergences and contradictions

• NEW vs the 2026-04-25 baseline: a real third-party commercial "Squarely" puzzle game (Hex Tree Games, Steam, Nov 2025) now exists in the digital-games category. The baseline review did not capture any "Squarely" puzzle-game use — it only found glassware and pet-food marks. This is a genuine new data point in the exact product space.
• Convergence: No indexed evidence of a registered/pending USPTO "Squarely" mark in printed books (IC 016), the first-filing class. The IC-016-first sequencing still looks clear on the available evidence.
• Caveat, not a contradiction: common-law use (a Steam game) is not the same as a USPTO filing, but it matters for LOC and for the descriptiveness/crowded-field analysis — a crowded field of "Square*" puzzle-game names can both weaken others' enforcement AND signal an examiner that the term is weak/descriptive.

Synthesis for RDCO

Recommendation: PROCEED-WITH-CAUTION; the IC 016-first word-mark filing path is most likely still clear, but a real attorney clearance search is now non-optional because of a newly-surfaced same-category common-law collision.

Per-class read on the available (limited) evidence:

• IC 016 (printed puzzle books) — clearest. No "Squarely" book/printed-matter mark surfaced. This is the load-bearing revenue surface and the recommended first filing. Lowest collision risk. Proceed.
• IC 009 / IC 041 (downloadable game + online play) — caution. This is where the new Hex Tree Games "Squarely" Steam game lives. Even absent a registration, their common-law use could (a) give them priority for the digital-game goods if they file first, and (b) be cited in any opposition. RDCO's iOS-launch-timed IC 009/041 filing is where a conflict is most plausible. Clear this class specifically before filing it.
• IC 028 (physical games/toys) — likely clear on available evidence (no surfaced mark), but lower-confidence; bundle into the attorney search.

Explicit confidence statement and limits. This is a LOW-confidence automated pass. I could NOT run an authenticated live search on tmsearch.uspto.gov (the current system; TESS was retired Nov 2023), and the public record databases (Justia, Trademarkia) returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch. I therefore could not directly confirm or rule out any specific USPTO serial number, nor re-verify the two baseline marks' current status. The strongest concrete new finding — the Hex Tree Games "Squarely" game — comes from Steam, not a trademark register, so its USPTO status is unknown. An automated pass cannot substitute for a real pre-filing clearance. Before money moves, RDCO should run (or have a USPTO-registered attorney run) a full live search on tmsearch.uspto.gov across IC 009/016/028/041 for "squarely" and phonetic/visual neighbors (squarly, squarley, square-ly, squarely + puzzle/games), and specifically investigate whether Hex Tree Games has filed or intends to file. This dovetails with the 2026-06-13 brief's recommendation to route the filing through an attorney (or Amazon IP Accelerator) anyway — the clearance search is part of that engagement, not a separate cost.

Net: don't let this stall the IC 016 book-class filing, which still looks clean and is the Phase-1 Brand-Registry gate. Do treat the IC 009/041 digital-game classes as needing a real, attorney-run clearance against the now-known Hex Tree "Squarely" before filing them at iOS launch.

Open follow-ups

• Does Hex Tree Games (or any party) have a live or pending USPTO "Squarely" filing in IC 009/028/041 — confirm via a live tmsearch.uspto.gov / TSDR lookup or attorney search?
• Are the two 2026-04-25 baseline marks (SQUARELY STYLISH / SQUARELY NATURAL) still in the same status (DEAD / LIVE) as of filing day — needs live re-verification?
• Does the crowded field of "Square*" puzzle-game names strengthen a descriptiveness/weak-mark refusal risk for SQUARELY under Section 2(e)(1), and should the identification be narrowed to mitigate?
• What is the priority-date exposure if RDCO's first use in commerce (KDP books, 2023) predates Hex Tree's 2025 game — does RDCO have senior common-law rights in the books space that change the IC 009/041 calculus?

Related

• [[2026-06-13-squarely-uspto-trademark-filing-strategy]] — the filing-strategy brief this clearance check feeds; word-mark, IC 016-first, expand to IC 009/041/028 at iOS launch
• [[2026-04-25-squarely-current-state-review]] — baseline 4-surface review documenting the original 2026-04-25 USPTO search (SQUARELY STYLISH dead / SQUARELY NATURAL live, no puzzle mark)
• [[strategy]] — Squarely Puzzles STRATEGY; Amazon KDP as load-bearing engine driving the IC 016-first recommendation
• [[2026-06-15-kdp-brand-registry-a-plus-content-squarely]] — companion brief on whether A+ Content can start before the trademark registers

Sources

• Vault: ~/rdco-vault/01-projects/squarely/state-reviews/2026-04-25-squarely-current-state-review.md
• Vault: ~/rdco-vault/06-reference/research/2026-06-13-squarely-uspto-trademark-filing-strategy.md
• Vault: ~/rdco-vault/06-reference/research/2026-06-15-kdp-brand-registry-a-plus-content-squarely.md
• Vault: ~/rdco-vault/01-projects/squarely-puzzles/strategy.md
• USPTO — Trademark Search (current system, replaced TESS Nov 2023): https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search
• USPTO — Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR): https://tsdr.uspto.gov/
• Steam — "Squarely" by Hex Tree Games (released Nov 21 2025): https://store.steampowered.com/app/3880290/Squarely/
• Steam — "Squarely Blue": https://store.steampowered.com/app/1980500/Squarely_Blue/
• Poki — "Mr. Squarely": https://poki.com/en/g/mr-squarely
• GitHub — nwg-piotr/squarely (Python puzzle game): https://github.com/nwg-piotr/squarely
• Justia Trademarks (record pages 403'd to automated fetch; cited as the recommended manual source): https://trademarks.justia.com/