Prepared by a licensed U.S. attorney
Trademark registration is the USPTO process that puts your brand name, logo, or slogan on the federal Principal Register for the goods or services you list. You file an application in Trademark Center with the mark, the owner, a filing basis, an identification of goods or services by class, and, if the mark is already in use, a specimen. An examining attorney reviews it, it is published for opposition, and it registers. We prepare the clearance search report, the identification and class schedule, the specimen review, and Office action response drafts, each drafted by a U.S.-licensed attorney. You, or your attorney of record, sign and file.
The short answer
The USPTO charges 350 dollars per class to file electronically (37 CFR 2.6(a)(1)(iii)), more if the application is incomplete or uses free-form wording. An Office action must be answered within three months, extendable once (2.62(a)). A registration lasts 10 years and renews, but a Section 8 declaration is due between the 5th and 6th year or the registration is cancelled.
15 U.S.C. 1051 · 37 CFR 2.32 · 2.56 · 2.62
Search, identify, prove use, answer the examiner
Knowing how to register a trademark starts with what registration does and does not do. You own a mark by using it, but only where you do business. Filing with the USPTO is what turns local, use-based rights into nationwide ones: once the mark registers, the filing date counts as constructive use across the country against nearly everyone who started later (15 U.S.C. 1057(c)). That is why the order of the steps below matters, and why the search comes before any money is spent on the brand.
Most failed applications fail at step 1, 2, or 4: a mark the USPTO will not register, a conflict nobody searched for, or an identification that triggers surcharges and an Office action. Those are the steps where drafting care pays.
Choose a fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive mark. The USPTO refuses marks that are merely descriptive or primarily merely a surname without proof of acquired distinctiveness (15 U.S.C. 1052(e), (f)), and does not register generic terms at all.
Search the USPTO Trademark Search system, state registers, and common law use for marks close enough to cause confusion with related goods or services, the ground for refusal under 15 U.S.C. 1052(d).
Use in commerce under Section 1(a) if you already sell under the mark, or a bona fide intent to use under Section 1(b) if you do not yet (37 CFR 2.34).
Describe each good or service in ID Manual wording and place it in its international class. The fee is per class, and free-form wording costs more (37 CFR 2.22(a)(20), 2.6(a)(1)).
For a use-based class, one specimen per class showing the mark as actually used: on the goods, tags, or packaging, or in the sale or advertising of the services (37 CFR 2.56).
The owner, or the owner's attorney, files the application and pays the fee in Trademark Center after verifying identity on a USPTO.gov account. The verified statement is signed by the owner or a person authorized to sign for it (37 CFR 2.193(e)(1)).
Respond within three months, extendable once by three months for a fee, or the application is abandoned (37 CFR 2.62(a)).
After a 30-day opposition window (15 U.S.C. 1063(a)), a use-based mark registers; an intent-to-use mark gets a notice of allowance and registers after an accepted statement of use (15 U.S.C. 1051(d)).
The first answer to how to trademark a name is to pick one the USPTO can register. The Lanham Act refuses a mark that is merely descriptive of the goods, primarily geographically descriptive, or primarily merely a surname (15 U.S.C. 1052(e)), unless it has become distinctive through use, and the USPTO may accept five years of substantially exclusive and continuous use as prima facie proof of that (1052(f)). It refuses a name that identifies a particular living person without that person's written consent (1052(c)), and a mark likely to be confused with an earlier one for related goods (1052(d)).
The USPTO groups marks on a spectrum. Invented words and real words unrelated to the goods are strongest; marks that hint at a quality are next; marks that describe the goods are weak; and the common name of the goods is never a trademark.
Filing the name alone as a standard character drawing claims the words without any particular font style, size, or color (37 CFR 2.52(a)). It is usually the first application a business files, because a logo changes and the name does not.
A logo is filed as an image with a written description, and a color claim if color is part of the mark (37 CFR 2.22(a)(10), (12), (13)). Each separate mark needs its own application; one application covers one mark.
A slogan registers if customers read it as identifying the source of your goods (15 U.S.C. 1127). Copyright will not protect it: names, titles, and slogans are excluded (37 CFR 202.1(a)).
Registering a business name with your state as an LLC or a DBA does not give you trademark rights in it. If the company is new, the LLC operating agreement should say the company, not a founder, owns the brand, so the right entity is the applicant.
A trademark clearance search answers the question the examining attorney will ask first: is there a registered or earlier-filed mark so similar, used for related goods or services, that buyers are likely to be confused (15 U.S.C. 1052(d))? Identical spelling is not the test. Marks that sound alike, look alike, or mean the same thing can conflict, and so can different goods that travel in the same channels of trade.
The USPTO's free Trademark Search system covers federal filings only. The USPTO's own guidance describes a comprehensive search as covering the federal register, state trademark registers, and unregistered common law use, because an earlier user with no registration can still block or limit your rights in the area where it trades.
The fee you pay the USPTO is not refunded if the application is refused. A search costs less than a refused filing, and far less than a rebrand after a cease and desist letter arrives.
A trademark application is a short form with long consequences. 37 CFR 2.32 lists what it must contain, and since January 2025, 37 CFR 2.22 lists what it must contain to avoid surcharges. The sample below is a single-class, use-based application for a fictional clothing brand, with the rule behind each entry. Every statement in it is sworn, so every fact has to be true on the day it is signed.
Owner and entity
Northvale Goods LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, domicile 210 Market St., Wilmington, DE
The owner of the mark, not the founder personally, unless the founder is the one using it. Name, entity type, citizenship or state of organization, and domicile address are base requirements (37 CFR 2.22(a)(1) to (3)).
Mark and drawing
NORTHVALE (standard characters)
A standard character drawing claims the words without any particular font style, size, or color (2.52(a)). A logo is filed as an image with a written description of the mark (2.22(a)(10), (13)).
Class and identification
Class 025: Shirts; hats; jackets
Taken from the ID Manual inside the form. Free-form wording adds a per-class surcharge (2.22(c), 2.6(a)(1)(v)).
Filing basis
Section 1(a): first use anywhere and in commerce 03/02/2025
Section 1(a) needs both dates of first use and a specimen; Section 1(b) needs a verified bona fide intention to use (2.34(a)).
Specimen
Photo of the sewn-in label and hang tag reading NORTHVALE
Must show the mark as actually used on the goods. A mockup, printer's proof, or digital rendering is not a specimen (2.56(c)).
Declaration and signature
/Dana Ruiz/ Dana Ruiz, Managing Member
The verified statement is signed by the owner or a person authorized to sign for it, with name and title below the signature (2.193(c), (d), (e)(1)).
Sample entries are fictional and shown for illustration only.
The identification of goods and services defines what your registration covers. It can be narrowed during examination but never broadened, so a description that is too narrow leaves products unprotected, and one that claims goods you do not sell or intend to sell cannot be sworn to.
Goods and services are grouped into international classes, and the fee is charged per class (37 CFR 2.86). The USPTO fee page uses a simple example: golf shirts, dress shirts, and T-shirts are one class, but adding custom T-shirt printing services adds a second class and a second fee.
Since January 18, 2025, the identification also drives the price. Choosing entries from the USPTO's Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual inside the form avoids a 200 dollar per-class surcharge for free-form text, and free-form text over 1,000 characters costs 200 dollars more per class for each additional 1,000 (37 CFR 2.22(c), (d)).
We build the class schedule from what you actually sell, check each entry against the ID Manual, and flag goods that sit in a class where the clearance search found a conflict, so you can decide whether to file for them now.
15 U.S.C. 1051(a); 37 CFR 2.34(a)(1)
For a mark already in use. The application states the date of first use anywhere and the date of first use in commerce, and includes one specimen per class. Use in commerce means bona fide use in the ordinary course of trade, not use made merely to reserve a right (15 U.S.C. 1127).
15 U.S.C. 1051(b); 37 CFR 2.34(a)(2)
For a mark not yet in use. The applicant verifies a bona fide intention to use it, which secures the filing date while the product launches. The mark does not register until use begins and a statement of use is accepted. Both bases may be claimed in one application, but not for the same goods (2.34(b)).
A trademark specimen is the evidence of use. For goods, it must show the mark on the goods, their packaging, labels or tags, or a point-of-sale display; for services, it must show the mark in the sale or advertising of the services with a direct link between the two (37 CFR 2.56(b)). A web page specimen must show its URL and the access or print date. An artist's rendering, printer's proof, digital mockup, or a copy of the drawing is not a specimen (2.56(c)).
Specimen problems are among the most avoidable Office actions, and among the most serious when they suggest a mark was not really in use on the date sworn. We review each specimen before you sign.
To file a trademark application today, you use Trademark Center, where the USPTO has taken new applications since January 18, 2025. Filing requires a USPTO.gov account with multifactor authentication and a one-time identity verification. Fees are paid by card or USPTO deposit account. The USPTO is also moving its most common maintenance and renewal forms out of TEAS into Trademark Center at the end of October 2026.
The signature rules decide who files. The verified statement in the application, a statement of use, an extension request, and Section 8 and 15 declarations must be signed by the owner or a person authorized to sign for it: someone who can bind the owner, someone with firsthand knowledge and authority, or the owner's attorney (37 CFR 2.193(e)(1)). Responses to Office actions must be signed by the owner if it has no attorney, and by the attorney if it has one (2.193(e)(2)). Whoever signs or files a document certifies it under 37 CFR 11.18(b) (2.193(f)), so read every line before you sign.
The USPTO warns that an attorney who represents you files from the attorney's own USPTO.gov account, and that anyone asking for your password is likely a scammer. We never ask for it. Our drafts come back to you as documents to review and enter; the account, the signature, and the filing stay with you or your attorney of record.
An Office action is the examining attorney's letter refusing registration or requiring changes. For a Section 1 or 44 application, the response is due three months from the issue date, and one three-month extension is available for 125 dollars if requested by the deadline (37 CFR 2.62(a), 2.6(a)(28)). A response or extension sent by email is not accepted; it must be filed electronically (2.62(c)).
Miss the deadline and the application is abandoned. A petition to revive for unintentional delay is possible within two months of the notice of abandonment, with a 250 dollar fee and the response itself (37 CFR 2.66). If the examining attorney makes a refusal final, the options are a request for reconsideration, an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, or an extension (2.63(b)).
The examining attorney found a registered or earlier-filed mark close enough, for related goods or services, to cause confusion (15 U.S.C. 1052(d)). The response argues the differences in the marks, the goods, and the trade channels, or narrows the identification away from the conflict.
The mark describes a quality or feature of the goods. The response argues the mark is suggestive, or claims acquired distinctiveness under Section 1052(f) with evidence (five years of substantially exclusive and continuous use can be accepted as prima facie proof).
The wording is indefinite or the goods sit in the wrong class. The response adopts acceptable ID Manual wording that clarifies or limits, but never broadens, the original identification (37 CFR 2.71(a)), and pays for any added class.
The specimen does not show the mark used with the goods or services, looks digitally altered, or is a mockup. The response substitutes a specimen with a verified statement that it was in use in commerce at least as early as the filing date (37 CFR 2.59(a)).
The USPTO may require a disclaimer of an unregistrable component, such as descriptive wording inside a larger mark (15 U.S.C. 1056(a)), or a translation, a mark description, or corrected entity details. Most are fixed by amendment.
Send the action and the serial number. We scope the response in one business day against the response date.
Send the Office ActionOnce the examining attorney approves the mark, it is published in the Official Gazette. Anyone who believes the registration would damage them has 30 days to oppose, extendable on request (15 U.S.C. 1063(a)). A use-based mark that is not opposed proceeds to registration.
An intent-to-use mark gets a notice of allowance instead. The statement of use is then due within six months: a verified statement that the mark is in use on every good or service in the notice, the dates of first use, one specimen per class, and 150 dollars per class (37 CFR 2.88). Goods left out of the statement are deleted and cannot be put back (2.88(b)(1)(iv)).
Not ready to launch? The first six-month extension is available on request; up to four more require a showing of good cause, such as product development, manufacturing, or marketing efforts, and extensions cannot run past 36 months from the notice of allowance (37 CFR 2.89; 15 U.S.C. 1051(d)(2)). Each costs 125 dollars per class.
A statement of use cannot be withdrawn once filed (2.88(f)), and goods not yet in use can be divided out into a separate application so the rest registers now (2.88(a)(2)(ii)). We draft the statement, the extension requests, and the good-cause statements so the dates and goods line up with the record.
A trademark registration does not run on its own. The registrant must file a declaration that the mark is still in use, with a current specimen, between the fifth and sixth year after registration, and again with each 10-year renewal. Missing the Section 8 window, plus its six-month grace period, cancels the registration (37 CFR 2.160). The declaration lists only the goods and services on which the mark is still in use (15 U.S.C. 1058(b)), so goods you dropped come out, and deleting goods after the declaration is filed carries its own fee (37 CFR 2.6(a)(12)(iv)).
| Filing | When | Rule | USPTO fee (electronic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 8 declaration of use | Between the 5th and 6th anniversary of registration (6-month grace period, extra fee) | 15 U.S.C. 1058; 37 CFR 2.160 | 325 dollars per class; grace period adds 100 dollars per class |
| Section 15 declaration of incontestability | Within one year after any 5-year period of continuous use after registration; optional | 15 U.S.C. 1065, 1115(b) | 250 dollars per class, or 575 dollars per class combined with Section 8 |
| Sections 8 and 9: declaration of use and renewal | In the year before each 10-year anniversary (6-month grace period, extra fee) | 15 U.S.C. 1059; 37 CFR 2.160(a)(2), 2.182 | 650 dollars per class combined; grace period adds 100 dollars per class |
Incontestable status under Section 15 makes the registration conclusive evidence of validity, ownership, and the exclusive right to use the mark, subject to the defenses listed in 15 U.S.C. 1115(b). Selling the brand? Ownership moves by a recorded trademark assignment, not by a maintenance filing.
Government fees are set by 37 CFR 2.6 and almost all are charged per class. The table lists the fees most applicants meet, as published on ecfr.gov and the USPTO fee page on 2026-10-21. Check the USPTO fee schedule before filing, because fees change by rulemaking. USPTO fees are generally not refunded, even if the mark is refused.
| USPTO filing | Fee | 37 CFR |
|---|---|---|
| Base application, filed electronically, per class | $350 | 2.6(a)(1)(iii) |
| Application filed on paper, per class | $850 | 2.6(a)(1)(i) |
| Insufficient information surcharge, per class | $100 | 2.6(a)(1)(iv), 2.22(b) |
| Free-form identification instead of ID Manual, per class | $200 | 2.6(a)(1)(v), 2.22(c) |
| Each additional 1,000 characters of free-form text, per class | $200 | 2.6(a)(1)(vi), 2.22(d) |
| Statement of use or amendment to allege use, per class | $150 | 2.6(a)(2)(ii), (3)(ii) |
| Extension of time to file a statement of use, per class | $125 | 2.6(a)(4)(ii) |
| Extension of time to respond to an Office action | $125 | 2.6(a)(28)(ii) |
| Petition to revive an abandoned application | $250 | 2.6(a)(15)(iv) |
| Section 8 declaration, per class | $325 | 2.6(a)(12)(ii) |
| Section 15 declaration, per class | $250 | 2.6(a)(13)(ii) |
| Renewal under Section 9, per class | $325 | 2.6(a)(5)(ii) |
It depends on where you are domiciled. An applicant or registrant whose domicile is outside the United States and its territories must be represented by an attorney licensed in a U.S. state (37 CFR 2.11(a)), and the application must name that attorney with bar information (2.22(a)(19)). A U.S.-domiciled applicant may file on its own behalf, and an individual may also appear for a firm of which they are a member, a partnership of which they are a partner, or a corporation or association they are an authorized officer of (11.14(e)).
Filing for someone else is different. The USPTO defines practice before the Office in trademark matters to include advising a client in contemplation of filing, preparing or prosecuting an application, preparing an amendment that needs argument for registrability, and preparing documents that maintain or amend a registration (37 CFR 11.5(b)(3)). Only attorneys, meaning active members in good standing of the bar of a U.S. state, may do that for others (11.14(a), 11.1); non-lawyers may not (11.14(b)). A trademark attorney who represents you is recognized by filing a power of attorney, signing for you, or appearing in a filing, and then signs your Office action responses (2.17(b), 2.193(e)(2)).
The USPTO's own guidance says private filing services can be legitimate if they work under the supervision of a licensed U.S. attorney, and that many are not. It may also ask an applicant whether anyone helped prepare a filing and, if so, who (37 CFR 2.11(c)). Answer that truthfully; we give you the details to list.
You may file and sign yourself. Our drafts, written by a U.S.-licensed attorney, give you the search, the identification, and the response text to file.
You must appoint a U.S.-licensed attorney of record, who files and signs. We prepare the drafts for that attorney's review.
Your attorney of record signs every response. We draft the search memo, the identification, or the response for the attorney to review, revise, and file.
Legal Tank is a drafting service, not a law firm, and we do not appear before the USPTO for you. Most of what a trademark filing service sells is drafting: the search, the identification, the specimen check, and the response. A U.S.-licensed attorney drafts that work, as the USPTO rules require. The signature and the filing stay with the owner or the owner's attorney of record.
A search of the USPTO register, state registers, and common law use for the mark and its variants, with each live conflict listed by owner, status, class, and goods, and the overlap in sound, meaning, and trade channels that a Section 2(d) refusal would turn on.
Use it whenBefore you print labels, buy the domain, or file.
Your products and services mapped to ID Manual entries and international classes, written to cover what you sell now and what the basis supports, so the application avoids the free-form surcharge and the most common examination requirement.
Use it whenYou know the mark and need the application content right the first time.
Each specimen checked against 37 CFR 2.56: does it show the mark on the goods, tags, packaging, or a point-of-sale display, or in the sale or advertising of the services, and does a web page capture carry its URL and access date.
Use it whenBefore a Section 1(a) filing, a statement of use, or a Section 8 declaration.
The written argument, evidence list, and amendments that answer each refusal and requirement in the action, organized the way the examining attorney raised them, and returned well ahead of the three-month deadline.
Use it whenAn Office action has issued and the clock is running.
The statement of use with dates, goods conformed to the notice of allowance, and a specimen, or a six-month extension request with the good-cause statement the second and later requests require (37 CFR 2.88, 2.89).
Use it whenA notice of allowance has issued on an intent-to-use application.
The declaration of use, the incontestability declaration, and the renewal, listing only the goods still in use and a current specimen for each class.
Use it whenThe registration is approaching its 5th or 10th year.
The mark, a logo file if any, what you sell, where, since when, and any Office action or USPTO notice, through the secure matter portal.
A written scope lists each document: search report, identification, specimen review, or response draft, with a delivery date set against any USPTO deadline.
Trademark work that the USPTO treats as practice before the Office is drafted by a U.S.-licensed attorney.
You confirm every fact the declaration will swear to: dates of use, the goods you actually sell, and the specimen. We revise until it is accurate.
The owner signs the verified statement and files in Trademark Center, or the attorney of record signs and files where the rules require it.
Someone already using your mark? See trademark infringement letter drafting. Buying or selling a mark with the business? See trademark assignment drafting. Need other business papers drafted? See legal document drafting.
This page explains the Lanham Act, the USPTO rules, and what we draft. It is not legal advice about your mark, and Legal Tank does not represent you before the USPTO.
Send the mark, what you sell, and any Office action you hold. We return scope and a delivery date in one business day, set against any USPTO deadline, and the drafts come back for you or your attorney of record to sign and file.
Quotes return same business day on intakes received before 5 PM ET
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