How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Name?
The government filing fee is the easy part to find. The parts that surprise people are the classes, the surcharges, and what comes due years after registration.
If you search this question, you will find a single number: the United States Patent and Trademark Office filing fee. That number is real, but it is the beginning of the math, not the end of it. What you actually invest in a federal trademark depends on how many classes you file in, how the application is written, and whether you plan to keep the registration alive after it issues.
The USPTO filing fee, per class
The USPTO restructured its trademark fees effective January 18, 2025. The base application fee is now $350 per class of goods or services. A class is a category: clothing is one class, cosmetics is another, entertainment and online content is another. A candle brand that also sells a skincare line is filing in two classes, and every fee doubles.
On top of the base fee, the USPTO now charges surcharges that did not exist a few years ago:
- $100 per class if the application is missing required information when it is filed.
- $200 per class if you describe your goods or services in your own words instead of choosing pre-approved wording from the USPTO's ID Manual.
- $200 per class for every additional 1,000 characters in a custom description.
These surcharges are where do-it-yourself filings get expensive. Writing your own description feels more accurate, and sometimes it is, but it is a choice with a price tag attached.
Fees that come later
If you file before you are actually selling under the name (an "intent to use" application), you will file a Statement of Use once you are, at $150 per class, plus a per-class fee for each extension of time you need. After registration, the mark has to be maintained. A Section 8 declaration is due between the fifth and sixth year after registration, and a renewal is due every ten years. Each currently runs $325 per class. Miss them and the registration is cancelled, regardless of how long you have been using the name.
The part the fee schedule does not show
The government fee is the same whether your application succeeds or fails, and the USPTO does not refund it if your mark is refused. The real variable is whether the application was worth filing in the first place. That depends on two things the fee schedule cannot tell you: whether someone already holds rights in a confusingly similar name, and whether your goods and services are described broadly enough to protect what you actually sell.
That is why we start with a clearance search before anything is filed. If you are still deciding whether your name needs protection at all, start with should I trademark my business name, and if you are wondering why your LLC did not already protect it, read trademark vs. LLC.
What working with us looks like
Our flat-fee starting investment for one trademark is $2,500, plus the USPTO filing fees for each class. That covers the clearance search, the strategy behind the classes and descriptions, and the filing itself, and the scope is confirmed in writing before any work begins. Filing two or three marks together, such as a name and a logo, reduces the investment per mark.
Measured against the alternative, which is rebranding after a competitor's registration blocks yours, the math is not close.
Common questions
How much is the USPTO fee to trademark a name?
Since January 18, 2025, the base USPTO application fee is $350 per class of goods or services. Surcharges of $100 to $200 or more per class can apply if the application is missing information or uses a custom description instead of the USPTO's pre-approved wording.
Do I pay the fee once or for every class?
Every class. A brand that sells clothing and also offers entertainment services is filing in two classes, and every USPTO fee is multiplied by the number of classes in the application.
Can I trademark a name for free?
Not a federal registration. Using a name in commerce creates limited common law rights in the area where you actually use it, but those rights are local, hard to prove, and easy to lose to someone who files first. A Florida state registration is inexpensive but protects you only in Florida.
Protect the name before you build on it.
Tell us the mark and what you sell, and we will tell you whether it is worth filing.
