Trademark registration cost calculator

What a U.S. trademark really costs

A federal trademark registration gives you nationwide priority, constructive notice to later adopters, access to federal court, and — after five years — incontestability. Total cost to file and maintain depends on how many classes you file in, whether you hire an attorney, and whether you pay for a clearance search up front.

USPTO filing fees (2024)

• TEAS Plus — $250 per class. Must select goods/services from the USPTO's preset ID Manual. No mid-prosecution edits. Cheapest option if your product fits.
• TEAS Standard — $350 per class. Custom goods/services description. More flexibility, more common.

You pay the full fee per class at filing. If you're a clothing brand selling shirts (class 25) and operating a retail website (class 35), that's two class fees — $500 TEAS Plus, $700 TEAS Standard.

Clearance search

Before filing, a professional clearance search checks for conflicting marks on the federal register, state registers, common-law uses, and domain-name databases. A basic knock-out search by an attorney runs $200–$500; a full opinion letter is $800–$2,000. Skipping it saves money up front but risks an office-action refusal, opposition, or trademark-infringement suit post-launch — all of which cost dramatically more than the search would have.

Attorney flat fees

For a single-class, straightforward application, expect $500–$1,500 flat for filing (includes basic clearance check). More complex applications — multiple classes, foreign priority, unusual goods — run $1,500–$3,000. Office-action responses are usually billed separately ($200–$1,500 each depending on complexity).

Statement of Use (for 1(b) applications)

If you file based on "intent to use" (the mark isn't in commerce yet), you pay $150/class to file a Statement of Use when you start using the mark — plus any extension-of-time fees ($125–$250 per 6-month extension). If you're already using the mark at filing (a 1(a) filing), you skip this step.

Maintenance fees over the life of the mark

A trademark lasts forever — if you maintain it. Required filings:

• Section 8 declaration between years 5 and 6 ($225/class at the TEAS standard rate).
• Section 8 & 9 renewal every 10 years ($525/class combined).

Miss either and the registration is cancelled. Re-filing from scratch is pricey — you lose your priority date and need to start the application over.

Common cost traps

• Classifying too broadly — listing every possible good/service inflates class count and can also trigger office actions for goods you don't actually sell.
• Using a "design mark" unnecessarily — if you file the mark as a stylized logo instead of plain text, you lose protection when you change the font or color. A standard-character (word) mark protects the word regardless of styling.
• Not filing a Statement of Use on time — you get 6 months after the Notice of Allowance, extendable in 6-month blocks up to 36 months at $125 each. Letting the window expire abandons the application and you lose the filing fee.
• Forgetting maintenance — the Section 8 between years 5–6 is the most commonly missed filing.

When to file vs. skip

If you're a one-product side business that doesn't plan to scale, common-law trademark rights (which exist automatically once you use a mark in commerce) may be enough. If you're building a brand, raising money, or selling across state lines, federal registration is worth the cost — the nationwide priority alone is irreplaceable.