Trademark Registration Services: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

LegalZoom led the Trademark Registration Services benchmark in September 2026 with 65.7% valid recommendation coverage. The gap to the next brand, ZenBusiness at 50.6%, stood at 15.1 percentage points in September 2026. No brand recorded a significant coverage increase or decline in September 2026, a quiet month relative to the August 2026 period.

Across the full baseline-to-current series, three brands declined beyond normal month-to-month variation: Bizee (Incfile) fell from 58.4% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 47.8% in September 2026, Rocket Lawyer declined from 42.8% in July 2026 to 26.4% in September 2026, and Trademark Engine dropped from 16.2% in July 2026 to 9.0% in September 2026. Rocket Lawyer declined in each of the two months since July 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI and search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026 recorded 143 qualified observations and 37.8% recommendation-shaped answer share, between the baseline and current months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Trademark Registration Services

Research Scope and Qualification

Brand-level percentages in this benchmark use qualified observations as the public denominator, not the full collection of prompt-surface responses gathered each month. The public denominator was 173 qualified observations in July 2026 and 178 in September 2026. See AI Market Discovery Methodology for how observations are qualified for public reporting.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended in the first three positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions divided by total mentions, from negative 1 to positive 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

In the month-over-month view (August 2026 to September 2026), ZenBusiness rose from 46.2% to 50.6% valid recommendation coverage, LegalZoom increased from 62.2% to 65.7%, and Bizee (Incfile) edged up from 46.9% to 47.8%, each breaking a prior month of decline. Rocket Lawyer continued down from 34.3% in August 2026 to 26.4% in September 2026, and Trademark Engine declined from 14.0% to 9.0% over the same period, extending each brand's two-month decline.

Largest Decline: Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer declined 16.4 percentage points from 42.8% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 26.4% in September 2026, a move beyond normal month-to-month variation. It declined in each of the two months since July 2026. Presence rate fell from 54.9% to 39.9%, and top-three rate dropped from 17.9% to 10.1% over the same period.

Largest Decline: Bizee (Incfile)

Bizee (Incfile) fell 10.6 percentage points from 58.4% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 47.8% in September 2026, also beyond normal month-to-month variation. The full decline occurred between July 2026 and August 2026, when coverage dropped from 58.4% to 46.9%, before stabilizing in September 2026. Presence rate moved from 65.9% to 61.2% over the baseline-to-current period.

Largest Decline: Trademark Engine

Trademark Engine declined 7.2 percentage points from 16.2% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 9.0% in September 2026, beyond normal month-to-month variation. It declined in each of the two months since July 2026, from 16.2% to 14.0% in August 2026 and then to 9.0% in September 2026.

Category Leader: LegalZoom

LegalZoom led all tracked brands with 65.7% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, up from 62.2% in August 2026. It held a 15.1 percentage point lead over ZenBusiness in September 2026. Valid recommendation coverage declined from 74.0% in July 2026, and LegalZoom's top-three rate fell from 43.9% to 27.0% while its rank-one rate declined from 22.0% to 11.8% over the baseline-to-current period.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands, placement varied noticeably.

ZenBusiness held the highest top-three and rank-one rates among the leaders in September 2026, despite ranking second by coverage. Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, which covers discovery and consideration.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery only and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

This benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often brands appear and are recommended across major AI and search surfaces in response to category-level questions.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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