At minimum, trademarking a name through the United States Patent and Trademark Office costs $350 per class of goods or services, and that’s just the base filing fee. Add in surcharges for incomplete filings or custom wording, attorney fees if you hire help, and the maintenance filings you’ll owe later, and the real total usually lands somewhere between $350 and a few thousand dollars. Where you fall in that range depends on how many classes you need, whether you file it yourself, and how smoothly the application moves through examination.
There’s no single number that applies to everyone here, so it helps to break the cost down by stage: what you pay to file, what can push the price up along the way, and what registration costs you after the certificate arrives.
The Base USPTO Filing Fee
Since January 2025, the USPTO has used one standard application form instead of the older TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard tiers. That form costs $350 per class. If you’re filing an application through the Madrid Protocol system administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the fee runs higher, at $600 per class.
Multiple classes means multiple fees. A bakery registering its name for both baked goods and a café service, for instance, would be filing in two separate classes and paying $350 twice, not once.
Surcharges That Can Raise the Price
The base fee assumes a clean, complete application. Miss something and the cost climbs:
- Incomplete application: $100 per class if required information is missing.
- Custom description: $200 per class for goods or services wording that isn’t pulled from the USPTO’s pre-approved list.
- Long custom descriptions: another $200 per class for every additional 1,000 characters beyond the first 1,000, when the description isn’t standard.
None of these are mandatory. Use the USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual for your description and fill out every required field, and you avoid all three. This is one of the easiest ways to keep your total cost as close to the base fee as possible.
Costs If You File Under Intent to Use
Not everyone is already selling under the name they want to protect. If you’re filing based on a genuine intent to use the mark rather than existing use in commerce, there’s an extra step waiting for you later. Once the name is actually in use, you’ll file a Statement of Use, which costs $150 per class. Need more time before you’re ready to submit that statement? An extension request costs $125 per class, and you can file for it more than once if needed.
Attorney Fees
Hiring a trademark attorney isn’t required. The USPTO lets individuals file their own applications. That said, many people still bring in legal help, especially for a name that might be close to something already registered, or for a filing across several classes where a mistake gets expensive fast.
Attorney costs vary widely depending on the firm, the complexity of the search, and whether you need someone to argue against an office action later. Flat-fee packages for a straightforward filing tend to sit on the lower end, while hourly billing for a more involved case, one with a contested search result or an opposition, can run considerably higher. It’s worth getting a quote before committing, since pricing structures differ a lot from one firm to the next.
Costs After Registration
Getting the certificate isn’t the end of the spending. A federal trademark has to be maintained, and the USPTO charges for that too.
- Section 8 Declaration of Use: due between years five and six after registration, at $325 per class.
- Section 9 Renewal: due every ten years alongside another Section 8 filing, together running around $650 per class when combined.
- Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability: optional, at $250, and it strengthens your legal position once the mark has been in continuous use for five years.
Miss a maintenance deadline and the registration can be cancelled, so these aren’t optional line items if you want to keep the trademark alive long-term.
Typical Cost Breakdown
| Filing Stage | Typical Fee | When It Applies |
|---|---|---|
| Base application | $350 per class | Filing under Section 1 or 44 |
| Madrid Protocol filing | $600 per class | Filing through WIPO under Section 66(a) |
| Statement of Use | $150 per class | Intent-to-use applications, once the mark is in use |
| Section 8 declaration | $325 per class | Years five to six after registration |
| Section 9 renewal (combined with Section 8) | Around $650 per class | Every ten years after registration |
Ways to Keep Costs Down
A few habits make a real difference in the final bill. Run a thorough search before filing, so you’re not paying application fees on a name that gets rejected outright. Stick to standard descriptions from the USPTO’s ID Manual instead of writing your own. File under only the classes you genuinely need, rather than padding the application to cover hypothetical future products. And respond to any office action within the deadline, since an abandoned application means starting the process, and the fees, all over again.
This article offers general cost information about the US trademark process and isn’t legal or financial advice. Fees can change, and your specific situation, including how many classes you need and whether your application draws an office action, will affect what you actually end up paying. If your filing looks complicated, a consultation with a trademark attorney can help you budget accurately before you start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the trademark fee per mark or per class?
It’s per class. If you’re registering one name across three different categories of goods or services, you’re paying the filing fee three times, once for each class.
Do I get a refund if my trademark application is rejected?
No. USPTO filing fees are non-refundable, even if the application is later refused. This is part of why a search before filing matters so much.
How much does hiring an attorney typically add to the cost?
It depends heavily on the firm and the complexity of your filing. A simple, uncontested application usually costs less than one involving an office action response or a search that turns up conflicting marks.
Are there cheaper ways to protect a business name?
Registering a business name with your state, such as an LLC filing or a DBA, is usually less expensive, but it only protects the name within that state and doesn’t offer the same nationwide legal protection as a federal trademark.
What happens if I don’t pay the maintenance fees later?
Missing a Section 8 or Section 9 deadline can lead to cancellation of your trademark registration. Once cancelled, the mark generally has to be reapplied for from the beginning, meaning you’d pay the base filing fees again.