The identification of goods can be narrowed forever and never widened.
Most trademark applications go wrong at the description of what you sell. Get it right on the day you file and most of the trouble that follows never arrives.
Drawings from expired US patents. Lit: US D132,182, Frederick M. Jones, Design for an Air Conditioning Unit, filed 1941, granted 1942.
Three decisions decide the application.
The first is what you are registering: the words alone in standard characters, or a design mark covering the logo as drawn. They protect different things, and businesses that care about both usually file both.
The second is the classes. Government filing fees are charged per class, so this decision changes your protection and your bill at the same time.
The third is the filing basis. Use in commerce means you are already selling under the mark. Intent to use holds your place before you launch, but it does not register until you file proof of use, so the timeline runs longer.
Decisions we make together
- Standard characters, a design mark, or both as separate filings
- Which international classes your goods and services fall into
- Filing on use in commerce or on intent to use
- How broadly to describe the goods without inviting a refusal
- Whether foreign filing belongs in the plan
Questions we get about this.
How do I register a trademark?
You file an application with the USPTO identifying the mark, the owner, the goods or services, and the filing basis, then respond to anything the examining attorney raises. If nothing is refused and nobody opposes, the mark registers.
The work that decides the outcome happens before filing: clearing the mark, choosing the classes, and drafting the identification of goods.
How long does trademark registration take?
An uncontested application commonly takes around a year from filing to registration, and several months pass before an examining attorney reviews it at all.
An office action, a published opposition, or an intent-to-use basis awaiting proof of use will each extend that.
What is the difference between use in commerce and intent to use?
Filing on use in commerce means you are already selling the goods under the mark and can submit a specimen showing it. Filing on intent to use means you have a bona fide intention to use the mark but have not started.
An intent-to-use application holds your priority date, which can matter a great deal. It does not become a registration until use begins and a statement of use is accepted.
What does it cost to register a trademark?
Two separate costs: attorney fees for clearing, preparing and prosecuting the application, and USPTO filing fees charged per class of goods or services.
Adding a class adds a government fee every time, so the class decision repays being made carefully.
Do I need a lawyer to register a trademark?
A US-domiciled applicant may file without one. Foreign-domiciled applicants are required to be represented by a US-licensed attorney.
The risk of self-filing is not the form. It is the identification of goods, which cannot be broadened after filing, and the clearance work that happens before the form is ever opened.
Tell us the mark and what you sell under it.
We will tell you which classes it belongs in and what registration would take.