Ah, the much misknown, wrongfully abhorred trademark registration. Truth be told, the trademark registration process isn’t the most enjoyable process, but it giveth so much in comparison to what it taketh away. We tend to babble on quite a bit here about the benefits and importance of registering your trademark and yet we still regularly hear from clients, or other business owners, who perceive the process to be prohibitively expensive, or just not worth the expense.
We certainly recognize that the expense involved is probably significant enough for some small businesses to require a bit of budgeting and planning, but it might not be as expensive as you think. Here, we’ll break down the basic costs of registering a mark in the United States.
Basic Online Application Fee for Trademarks Already in Use: $225 per class
For many registrants, the online TEAS Plus application is the best choice. (The fees are higher if you file on paper.) This application costs $225.00 per class. A class is like a “category” for goods and services. You’ll definitely register in at least one class and the number of additional classes depends on your business.
For example, if you are offering some kind of coaching and operate solely online, you might register in one class to cover the videos and e-books you produce, and then in another class to cover your actual coaching services.
Most of our clients register in 1-3 classes, and some, with more extensive goods and services offerings, register in additional classes.
Basic Online Application Fee for Trademarks Not Already in Use: $225 + $100 per class
If you are registering a trademark that you are not already using (but have a bonafide intent to use) you will also likely use the TEAS Plus application. However, in addition to the $225.00 per class fee, you’ll also pay a $100.00 fee per class to file your Statement of Use. This is how you show the USPTO that you are actually using the mark in commerce since you weren’t using it when you first filed your application.
If you need to ask for more time to show that you are using the mark in commerce you’ll pay a $150.00 fee.
Other USPTO Fees
Most of the applications we handle make it through the registration process with just the basic TEAS Plus filing fee and/or the intent to use fee. However, if your application runs into trouble, because of poor drafting, or some other issues, you’ll need to pay about $50-$150 to make changes or amendments. The USPTO has a fee table here. One bummer about the application process is, if you flub it up, and the mark is never registered, you don’t get your fees back.
Other Associated Costs
Again, these are just the basic costs of registering your mark (ie, the fees you pay upfront to the USPTO). If you decide to seek assistance with your application–which could help you avoid serious mistakes with your application, and save you money in the long-run–you’ll of course need to fork over a little dough for that as well.
One associated cost that we would highly recommend you NOT forego, is a comprehensive trademark search before filing your application. These searches are worth paying for (if you don’t want to tackle them on your own) and they are pretty crucial. There’s no sense paying $225.00 per class to register your mark, only to find out it’s unregistrable because someone else registered the same, or similar mark, already.
If your mark is refused or opposed, you’ll need to make some legal arguments to try to overcome those. Some lawyers will include defenses to refusals and oppositions as part of a comprehensive trademark registration package, or you can hire them separately to make these arguments for you.
There you have it! The basic costs of registering a trademark. Not too much of a pain in the wallet, right? If you’re on the fence about registration hopefully this has cleared up some of the financial aspect for you. Btw, have we mentioned all of the benefits of trademark registration? Here's 3 reasons the internet wants you to register your trademark.
