This covers what happens after you file, which choices you can't undo, and the most common reasons applications fail.
Trademark law does not protect names that everyone needs. A name that is the common term for the product, like "Bicycle" for bicycles, can never be registered. A name that merely describes what you sell, like "Cold & Creamy" for ice cream, is refused unless you can show that years of use have taught buyers to treat it as a brand.
Descriptive names feel like good marketing, which is why so many founders choose them. In practice, an invented or unrelated word gets more protection than a name that explains the product. There is a longer version of this in the distinctiveness guide.
Look for identical names, and for names that sound or mean the same in related goods, since those cause most conflict refusals. Do it before you print anything or buy the domain. A $2 knockout search rules out the obvious problems cheaply.
The application describes your goods and services in the USPTO's own vocabulary, and you can narrow that description later but never broaden it. If you claim too little, the registration protects less than your business does. If you claim too much, you pay for classes you can't support and may draw extra refusals.
If you are already selling under the name, you file on use in commerce and must show it. If you are not selling yet, you file on intent to use, which holds your place. The registration then only issues after you start selling and prove it, which adds fees and deadlines.
A specimen is proof that the name is used as a brand, not as decoration or a description. A mock-up doesn't count. A product page where the name identifies who sells the goods usually does. Bad specimens are one of the most common reasons an otherwise sound application stalls.
An examining attorney is assigned some months after filing. If they see a problem they issue an office action, a written refusal or objection with a deadline to respond. Most can be answered. Ignoring one abandons the application, and the fee is not refunded.
If it clears examination the mark is published, and anyone who believes it would harm them has a window to oppose. Most marks pass unopposed. If nobody objects and you have shown use, the registration issues.
After registration there are maintenance filings between the fifth and sixth years, again at ten years, and every ten years after that. Miss one and the registration is cancelled, and you start over behind anyone who filed in the meantime. The deadlines guide lists them.
People usually mean two different costs, and it helps to keep them apart.
| What | Paid to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Government filing fee | USPTO | Charged per class of goods or services. Non-refundable, even if the application is refused. |
| Attorney fee | Your attorney, if you hire one | For the work: clearance, drafting the description, choosing the basis, answering refusals. |
| Later filings | Both | Statements of use, extensions, and the maintenance filings above each carry their own fee. |
Be careful with "$0 filing" offers. The government fee is never zero, so it is being charged somewhere. Check what the service does for its fee. Many cheap services say in their terms that they won't advise you on what to file, and that advice is what decides whether the registration is worth having.
If you are domiciled in the United States you are allowed to file for yourself. If you are domiciled abroad, USPTO rules require a licensed U.S. attorney. That rule came in after large numbers of foreign applications were prepared by people who weren't authorized to practice, and the USPTO has sanctioned filings made that way.
Whether you're allowed to file alone matters less than the decisions involved. Several steps above can't be corrected later: the description you can't broaden, the basis that sets what you must prove, and the specimen. A lawyer takes responsibility for those decisions. Software can't make them for you, ours included, and our terms say so.
Usually about a year to eighteen months from filing to registration if nothing goes wrong, and longer if an office action or an opposition comes up. You can't speed up examination, but a clean application avoids the objections that add months.
Possibly, but be careful. In the U.S., rights can come from use alone, so an unregistered business may have earlier rights in its area or field. A federal register search won't find them, so a clean search doesn't mean the name is clear.
The word usually protects more, because it covers the name however it is styled. A logo registration protects that design. Businesses that can afford both often file the word first, so a later logo redesign doesn't affect the registration.
Most refusals come as an office action with a response deadline, and many can be answered with an argument or an amendment. Missing the deadline is what ends the application. The grounds an examiner can cite are listed in the refusal guide.
No. Forming a company with the state registers a business entity; buying a domain rents an address. Neither gives you trademark rights, and both are routinely mistaken for it. Trademark rights come from use as a brand, and federal registration is what makes them enforceable nationwide.
All of this assumes the name gets past a search first, and a knockout search takes a few minutes.
This page is general information, not legal advice. The outcome for any mark depends on its own facts.
Guides for the questions that usually come up next.