How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Logo? | Expose

How much does trademarking a business logo in the United States Patent and Trademark Office cost? Here’s your quick answer:

The cost to register a trademark depends on multiple factors. For instance, it depends on which application filing form you have chosen. There are two application filling options, TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard, which have different costs per the number of classes of goods and services.

When you apply for registration, you must pay additional fees according to your filing basis.

After your registration, you will occasionally have to pay maintenance fees to keep your registration alive. 

This blog post will explore the factors and costs of two initial application forms and maintenance costs.

What Is a Trademark?

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or image that must be registered as a business’ exclusive brand. With the help of a trademark logo, business owners own legal protection against counterfeits, copyright, and fraud issues.

However, companies that provide similar goods and services will face harsh penalties for using other companies’ registered trademark logos. This is also true for foreign entities that import products into the U.S.

An Overview of Registered Trademarks

A federal trademark is a certified enhanced trademark by the U.S. government and comes with exclusive and nationwide legal rights that prohibit anyone from using your company’s trademark. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the Federal agency that registers trademarks for your company. 

How Much Does Trademark Registration Cost?

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fees for filling out a Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). The recent fee in the U.S. is at least $250 per application. It will increase when you add more products or services to the application.

Furthermore, the average cost of filing a trademark application for a trademark logo ranges from $275 to $400. The trademark cost generally varies according to your situation.

Application Filing Options

As we discussed, we have two options for initial application forms. Look at the differences between TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard.

TEAS Plus Cost	TEAS Standard Cost
$250 per class of goods/services	$350 per class of goods/services

Look at Your Application Filing Basis

After choosing your initial application form, you’ll need to pay additional charges according to your filing basis. What are these filing bases? Well, this filing basis depends on whether you’ve recently used your trademark logo in commerce and what responsibilities you have throughout the registration process.

For example, if you’re using your trademark in interstate commerce in the United States, you will choose the use-in-commerce filing basis. If you want to use bona fide intention in interstate commerce in the United States, you will opt for the intent-to-use filing basis. An intent-to-use filing basis can include additional fees at several points. To learn more, see the detailed insight about use-in-commerce and intent-to-use bases.

Fee for Each Class of Goods or Services:

It depends on your choice of classes of goods and services in your application. For instance, if you choose a TEAS Standard initial application, you must pay $350 per class of goods and services. On the other hand, if you have two classes of goods, you’ll pay around $700, double the amount per class cost. 

However, if you have multiple goods in the same class, you’ll pay only the $350 cost for one class.

Keep Your Trademark Registration Alive

When you have completed the registration of your trademark, you need to file documents to maintain your registration periodically. These documents cost differently and will be based on the number of classes in your trademark registration. 

Furthermore, you must submit a declaration of use or excusable nonuse and a renewal application every ten years. It has $525 filing fees per class of goods and services. Thus, if you have two classes of goods, you must pay around a $1050 fee, double the amount per class. To learn more, go through USPTO maintaining a trademark registration guide.

How Long Does a Federal Registration Last?

As long as you continue to use your trademark in commerce, your trademark registration stays longer and provides the USPTO with proof that you’re still using it. Generally, you need to file maintenance documents with fees prescribed in the USPTO fee schedule. In short, you must file maintenance documents after being registered for five years.

If you can’t maintain your trademark registration for any reason at these intervals, you’ll be deprived of your federal registration, and you need to start from scratch again.

What Happened If Anybody Copyright a Registered Trademark Logo

If someone has copied your registered trademark and sold their product while having slightly changed to your trademark, you can take legal actions, which include multiple options, like

1. Issue a cease and desist letter: This formal letter stops your infringing party from using your trademark or other similar marks in their products.

2. Sending a trademark infringement lawsuit: This is a legal action taken in federal court to stop the infringing party from accessing your registered trademark in their business while seeking damages.

3. Filing a dilution lawsuit: This is another legal action where you can file a dilution claim if the infringing party accesses your trademark, which merely dilutes the distinctiveness of your mark.

4. Contacting the marketplaces and websites: Remember that many marketplaces and websites have strict policies against trademark infringement. Therefore, they’ll immediately remove infringing listings once they know about it.

5. Contacting the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) team for blocking products: If the infringing products are being sent to/imported into the U.S., CBP will stop the imported products of the infringing party.

Therefore, it is essential to register your trademark in the USPTO so that you can take any legal action, as discussed above. Furthermore, it’s suggested that you consult with an attorney who is an expert in trademark law and elaborates more with details according to your trademark case.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the cost to file a trademark is around $250 per class of goods and services in the TEAS plus option, while choosing TEAS Standard costs around $350 per class. This is not the total cost. Wait! You need to pay filing and maintenance fees. 

After registration, you must renew your registered trademark. That’s all!