Entrepreneur's Toolkit - Trademark Application and Registration Information Skip to main content
Technology Transfer

Entrepreneur's Toolkit - Trademark Application and Registration Information

Before You Start

Before you go to the expense of seeking registration for your trademark, take some steps to maximize the chances of success.

  • Consider what your trademarks are.
  • If possible, select a strong mark.
    • Consider the mark's distinctiveness
    • Consider what others are already doing
  • Identify the goods and/or services you are already using the mark with and your plans to expand the goods and/or services with which you use the mark.
  • Lock down how you will use the mark (e.g., a style guide), including stylization, placement, colors, etc., and commit to being consistent in how you use it.
  • Make sure to identify the true owner of the mark. If the true owner isn't yet formed as a business entity, form the entity before proceeding. The true owner will be the applicant, or the application will be void.
  • Identify what version(s) of the mark to apply for - you can apply for the text itself (in any form, a "standard-character" mark), for words with stylization (claiming the distinctive font/color(s)), as a logo with (stylized) words plus additional graphic elements, and/or as a pure logo (if there are no letters).
  • Determine whether to use an attorney to apply (recommended for most).

Ready to Apply?

When you file a trademark application in the U.S., you will file the application with the following:

  • The name, address(es), and state of incorporation of the trademark owner/applicant
  • The trademark being applied for
  • A listing of goods and/or services sought to be covered, by class (see Understand your market/product/services)
  • Whether use is already occurring for each item identified of the goods and/or services
  • If use is already occurring for at least some goods and/or services, specimen(s) (pictures, screenshots, videos, etc.) showing such use
  • An application filing fee for each class of goods and/or services included in the application.

Make sure to avoid the common problems in applications if possible. Your application will then enter the queue to be examined. The time to examination varies, but currently (late 2023) is approximately nine months. While the application is pending, you can still use the "TM" or "SM" identifiers with your mark.

Process after Application

Examination

An examining attorney will examine your application to determine if it complies with all formalities and if it does not conflict with existing prior registrations and prior applications. If you (and your attorney) have done good work in advance, you can avoid many of the common problems encountered by applications and hasten the process. If any problems occur, you will receive an office action and have a chance to respond. If there are issues raised, examination and responding can take anywhere from a few months to (in rare cases) a few years.

Publication

Once everything looks good, the examining attorney will approve your application for publication. Publication provides an opportunity for anyone who believes they will be damaged by registration of your mark to oppose its registration through a adversarial process. Again, good preparation in choosing your mark should help you avoid oppositions being filed against it. The publication process usually takes between two to three months. If an opposition is filed, it may add months to years to your process.

Allowance and Registration

If no opposition is filed or once any opposition is resolved in your favor, your trademark application will be allowed. If you filed your application based on actual use for all the goods and/or services, the trademark will then proceed directly to registration. If, however, you filed your application based on an intent to use some or all of the identified goods and/or services, you will have an extendable period of six months (capped at three years) in which to submit evidence (specimens) of use with an additional fee. Once your mark is registered, you can start using the ® symbol with your mark.

After Registration

Trademark registrations can persist indefinitely, but not without some maintenance actions by you. Initially, you will need to submit evidence of ongoing use between the fifth and sixth anniversaries of registration. You will then have to submit evidence of use again with a renewal application between the ninth and tenth anniversaries of registration. After that, ongoing evidence of use and a renewal application are due every ten years. Optionally (but highly recommended), once you have used the mark continuously for five years, you can file a declaration seeking incontestable rights, greatly limiting the grounds by which someone can seek to cancel your registration.

What Does It Cost?

You can expect to pay an attorney between $1,000 to $2,000 to file most applications (depending on the number of classes of goods/services), including some feedback as you select your mark. Addressing issues during examination are more variable depending on their complexity, but rarely exceed a few thousand dollars. If an opposition is filed, the costs can greatly increase. If you filed based on an intent to use instead of use, plan on a few hundred dollars per class to submit evidence of use. Once granted your registration, plan on renewal costs similar to the original application costs every ten years.