These functions frequently fall within the Secretary of State’s office.

Data

Registered corporations

Every corporation along with all records pertaining to them—corporate ID, address, corporate entity type, business classification, registered agent, stock ownership, etc. This should include historical data, so that corporations are included even if they no longer exist.

This is a core dataset.

Registered trade names

The professional aliases under which individuals and corporations do business. Data should include the date, trade name, actual corporate name, and corporate ID.

Registered trademarks and service marks

State governments provide trademark and service mark registration services. Published data should include the type of mark (TM or SM), the registration date, the registration expiry date, the registrant (if a corporation, include the corporate ID), and the actual text that’s been registered. Some registered marks include the design. Ideally, that should be included as an SVG or base-64-encoded data, but it’s also reasonable to provide a URL for the image.

Enforcement actions

Businesses that are accused of violating state laws and regulations. Data should include the case number, case name, case summary (if it exists), the name and corporate ID of the accused business, the date the case was established, the date the case was resolved, and the disposition of the case.

UCC filings and tax liens

Records of businesses that have liens against them. Data should include the business’ name and corporate ID, the name of the party that holds the lien, the date of the lien, what the lien is against (e.g., a building), and the value of the lien.

Registered securities for sale

The sale of securities is registered with states, which publishes that information. Published data should include the issuer, the issuer's corporate ID, the offering, and the registration date.

Experts

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