Trademark
Own the name you are building.
A registered trademark is federal ownership of your brand name or logo, enforceable across the United States. It is what Amazon Brand Registry asks for, what stops a competitor registering your name first, and what turns a name you use into a mark you own. We search the register, prepare the application in the right class, file it with the USPTO and track it to registration.
Plus the USPTO filing fee per class, invoiced at cost · federal registration
From a name you use to a mark you own
- 01Clearance search
- 02Class and goods chosen
- 03Application prepared
- 04Filed with the USPTO
- 05Registered ®
What it is
Federal ownership of your brand name, enforceable across the United States.
Nationwide priority over anyone who starts using a similar mark for similar goods after your filing date. The right to use the ® symbol. A listing on the federal register that other applicants are checked against. Access to marketplace brand programmes — Amazon Brand Registry accepts a pending application and gives registered marks the strongest protection. And a legal presumption of ownership if you ever have to enforce the mark.
Trademarks are registered by class of goods or services, and the application has to describe what you actually sell under the mark in language the USPTO accepts. An online store selling its own products, a software subscription and a consulting service are different classes. The application also needs a specimen — proof the mark is in use, such as a product page or packaging — or a declared intent to use it, with the specimen filed later.
- Filed with
- The USPTO
- The United States Patent and Trademark Office. A federal registration covers all fifty states.
- USPTO fee
- $350 per class
- The USPTO's base application fee per class of goods or services, invoiced at exactly what the USPTO charges. Additional classes cost more.
- Time to register
- 12 to 18 months
- Filing takes days. Examination, publication and registration take a year or more, and the USPTO controls the pace.
- Search first?
- Always
- An application that conflicts with an existing mark is refused months after filing, with the fee gone. A clearance search comes before anything is filed.
Why it matters
The brand you built can be registered by someone else first.
The USPTO does not refuse a conflicting application at filing. It accepts the fee, assigns a serial number, and puts the application in a queue. Months later, an examining attorney compares it against the register and refuses it because a similar mark already exists in a related class. By then the founder has built packaging, listings and a brand around a name they cannot register, and the fee is not refunded. A clearance search takes a day and is the whole reason the application succeeds or fails.
How it works
From a clearance search to the ® symbol.
We prepare and file the application and track it through the USPTO. We are not a law firm. A minor office action — a description that needs tightening, a disclaimer the examiner wants — is routine and we handle it. A substantive refusal on likelihood of confusion or descriptiveness needs a trademark attorney's argument, and we will tell you plainly when that is the case rather than pretend to be one.
What the USPTO needs
- The markA word mark, or a logo with the design filed as an image.
- Goods and servicesThe class and a description that matches real use.
- A specimenProof of the mark in use — packaging, a product page, an invoice.
01Business day one
A clearance search before anything is filed
The USPTO register and common-law use are searched for marks that could block yours. Filing without this is how applications are refused months later.
02Then
The right class, the right description
Trademarks are registered by class of goods or services. The description has to fit what you actually sell, or the examiner rejects it.
03Same week
The application is prepared
Owner details, the mark, the specimen showing it in use, the class and the goods — prepared for your confirmation.
04On confirmation
Filed with the USPTO, fee at cost
The application is submitted and a serial number assigned. The USPTO's per-class fee is passed through as charged.
05Months, not weeks
Examination, publication, registration
An examining attorney reviews it, it is published for opposition, then registered. Every status change is in your dashboard as it happens.
Trademark Registration
$399
$399 + USPTO Fee
For a company you already have, or added to a formation order. Any state or government fee is invoiced at cost, exactly as the state charges it. Full refund before we begin the work.
Protect My BrandWhat’s included
- A clearance search of the USPTO register and common-law use for marks that could block yours, with a plain-language summary
- Choosing the right class and writing a description of goods or services that matches what you actually sell
- Preparing the application — owner, mark, specimen, class, description — for your confirmation
- Filing with the USPTO and paying the USPTO's fee on your behalf, invoiced at cost
- Every USPTO status change, office action and deadline in your dashboard until the mark registers
Not included
- Responding to a substantive office action that needs legal argument — that is trademark attorney work, and we will tell you when you need one
- Any guarantee of registration; the USPTO examines every application and can refuse one
- Trademark registration outside the United States
The timeline
Filing is fast. Registration is not.
The application is assigned a serial number and enters the examination queue, currently several months long. An examining attorney reviews it and either approves it for publication or issues an office action asking for changes or refusing it. Approved marks are published for thirty days so anyone can oppose. If unopposed, the mark registers. Each of those steps appears in your dashboard as it happens, with any deadline attached.
- Filing
- Days, once the search and specimen are ready
- First USPTO action
- Several months in the examination queue
- Publication
- 30 days for anyone to oppose
- Registration
- Typically 12 to 18 months from filing, if unopposed
Direct answers
Frequently asked questions.
Checked 2026-07-28. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it the same day.
No. You can sell under a name without registering it. Registration is what stops someone else registering the name, gives you nationwide priority, and is required for programmes like Amazon Brand Registry. The risk of not registering is that the brand you build ends up owned by someone else.
Yes. Your US LLC can own the mark, and so can a foreign company. Foreign-domiciled applicants must be represented by a US-licensed attorney under USPTO rules; a US LLC as the applicant avoids that requirement.
The base application fee is $350 per class of goods or services. A mark used for products in one class and services in another is two classes. The fee is paid at filing and invoiced at cost; it is not refunded if the application is refused.
Filing takes days once the search and specimen are ready. Examination currently takes several months to a first action, then publication for thirty days, then registration. Twelve to eighteen months from filing is typical for an unopposed application.
A search of the USPTO register and of unregistered use for marks that are the same as or confusingly similar to yours, in related goods or services. It is what tells you whether the application is likely to be accepted before you pay the fee and build the brand.
A word mark protects the name in any font or styling and is usually the stronger first filing. A logo protects the specific design. Many brands file the word mark first and the logo later. We recommend based on how you use the brand.
Own the name
You already built the brand. Make sure it is yours.
A clearance search, a correctly classed application, and every USPTO update in your dashboard until the mark is registered.
Trademark Registration — $399 + state fee
Protect My Brand