How much does it cost to trademark a business name?

The government filing fees alone are $350 for a one-class application with one standard character mark, or $650 if you want the logo design. An attorney typically adds $500-$1,000 for a search, filing, and responding to one office action, landing at $850-$1,600 all-in for a single class. Self-filing works out at $350 with one TEAS Plus class and no attorney fees.

Do I need a lawyer to trademark a name?

Not legally. The USPTO allows self-filing for anyone. What a lawyer buys is a professional clearance search that checks state, federal, and common-law use, a properly drafted description of goods and services, and a properly handled office action if one comes back. That last one is where self-filers most often fail — an unhandled office action means the application is abandoned and you refile with a new date.

What is a reasonable attorney fee for a trademark?

$500-$1,000 for a straightforward one-class filing including a basic search and one office action response is normal in 2026. Above $1,500 you are paying for a comprehensive clearance search across multiple classes. Flat fees are common; hourly billing at $250-$400 per hour is common at larger firms. Avoid anyone quoting more than $2,500 for a single mark without a scope explanation.

How long does trademark registration take?

The full process runs 8-14 months from filing to registration. The examination stage is roughly 1-3 months, an office action adds 3-6 months if it is issued, and the mandatory 30-day publication period between approval and registration is fixed by statute. Anyone promising registration in 60 days is either doing nothing legal or paying for a different, unregistered symbol.

Can I trademark a name just by using it?

You can, for limited purposes. Common-law trademark rights arise from actual use in commerce, which lets you sue for infringement and use ™ immediately. But federal registration requires filing, and registration gives you nationwide priority back to your filing date, the ability to use the ® symbol, access to federal court, and customs recordal. Those are large advantages that common-law rights do not provide.

What happens if my trademark application gets rejected?

An examiner issues an office action citing a likelihood of confusion with an existing mark, a descriptiveness objection, or a technical defect. You can respond with arguments and evidence, amend the goods and services list to narrow it, or request a continuance to keep the application alive while you gather use evidence. Abandoning without responding closes the application permanently and costs you the filing date.

How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Name in 2026?

At a glance
Government filing fees are $350 one class / $650 with a logo. That is the non-negotiable floor.
An attorney adds $500-$1,000, landing at $850-$1,600 all-in for a single class.
Registration takes 8-14 months, and the 30-day publication period is fixed by statute.
You can file without a lawyer. The expensive mistake is not filing yourself — it is failing to answer an office action and losing your filing date.
One class covers up to four related goods or services. Most single-brand businesses need only one.

Prices and USPTO fees last verified October 2026. Government fees change — confirm current amounts on uspto.gov before filing.

The fee structure, broken down

Trademark costs have two halves that people conflate. The government fee is set by the USPTO and is the same whoever files. The professional fee is what you pay a trademark attorney, and that is where the range comes from.

The government half depends on two variables: how many classes you claim, and whether you want to protect a word mark or a design. A standard character mark, which is the word itself without a specific typeface, is the cheapest. A design mark covering your logo costs more and protects less than the word.

Component	Self-filed	With an attorney	What it buys
USPTO filing fee, 1 class, word mark	$350	Included	The application itself
USPTO filing fee, 1 class, design mark	$650	Included	Logo protection, narrower scope
Each additional class	$350	Included in quote	Most businesses need only one
Office action response (government fee)	$150 per response	Included in flat fee	Required or the application is abandoned
Professional search and filing	$0	$500-$1,000	Clearance search, correct class, correct description
Comprehensive clearance search	$0	$1,000-$2,500	Federal, state, common-law, and domain sweep
Total, one class, typical	$350-$500	$850-$1,600	Most single-brand businesses land here

How many classes you actually need

The international class system groups goods and services into 45 classes. Each class you claim carries a separate $350 government fee, which is why the number of classes is the main cost driver on larger applications.

The rule most filers misunderstand: one class can cover a related group of goods or services. You do not need a class for every product you sell. A restaurant that sells food and provides catering is one class. A clothing brand that sells apparel and accessories is usually one class. A business that both sells physical goods and runs a software platform is likely two.

Business type	Classes typically needed	Total government fee	Typical attorney quote	Watch for
Local service business (plumber, salon, consultancy)	1	$350	$850-$1,200	Local registrations may already exist in your state
Physical product brand (apparel, skincare)	1-2	$350-$700	$1,000-$1,600	Do not claim a class you have no plans for
SaaS or software	1-2	$350-$700	$1,000-$1,600	Class 42 covers software as a service
Restaurant or cafe	1-2	$350-$700	$900-$1,400	Class 43 covers services, 30 for goods
Multi-product marketplace	3-5	$1,050-$1,750	$2,000-$3,500	Consider filing in stages as the catalogue grows
Individual creator (art, music, books)	1-3	$350-$1,050	$850-$1,500	Multiple pseudonyms need multiple filings

Self-filing versus hiring an attorney

Self-filing is genuinely reasonable for a straightforward word mark in one class, particularly when the business is new and the name has not been cleared by anyone. The USPTO's TEAS system is straightforward enough that a careful applicant can complete it in an evening.

What self-filing does not give you is a clearance search by someone who knows what they are looking at. The federal database tells you what is registered; it does not tell you what is in use in your state, what your competitors have on their packaging, or what is registered in a foreign country where you might expand. That is the value an attorney supplies, along with drafting a goods description narrow enough to survive examination.

Factor	Self-filed	Attorney-filed	Risk if you get it wrong
Federal database search	Free, you can do it	Included	Miss a conflicting mark; application refused
State and common-law search	Not practically accessible	Included in comprehensive search	Likelihood-of-confusion objection you cannot overcome
Goods and services classification	You choose the class and description	They choose and narrow	Too broad a description gets refused for numerous goods
Office action response	You write it or lose the application	They draft and file	Abandonment, and you lose your filing date priority
Specimen and use evidence	You assemble it	They advise	Refusal to register despite a valid application
Cost	$350-$500	$850-$1,600	—

The most expensive failure mode is not the $850 you saved. It is filing yourself, receiving an office action six months later, not understanding it, and letting the application go abandoned. You then have to start over and your new filing date is six months worse than the old one.

The timeline, and what happens at each stage

Clearance search (0-2 weeks). Federal database, plus state and common-law checks if you are using an attorney.
File (day 0). Pay the government fee, submit the application. Your filing date is established the day the USPTO confirms receipt.
Examination (1-3 months). An assigned examiner searches for conflicts and reviews the classification and description.
Office action (if issued, 3-6 months). A letter citing problems. You have three months to respond. Ignoring it closes the application.
Response and review (3-6 months). Examiner reviews your reply and either clears the mark or issues a second action.
Publication (30 days, fixed). Once cleared, the mark publishes for opposition. Anyone who believes they may be injured can file a notice of opposition in this window.
Registration issued (8-14 months total). You may then use the ® symbol and file with Customs to protect imports.

Words that cannot be trademarked

Some marks are refused no matter how much you spend on them. Understanding these categories saves a filing fee and a lot of frustration.

Category	Example	Why refused	Workaround
Descriptive for the goods	FreshFish for a seafood restaurant	Descriptive of the goods, requires secondary meaning	Use an arbitrary or suggestive term instead
Generic	Pizza for a pizza place	The common name of the product can never be owned	Claim the generic term plus a distinctive modifier
Merely ornamental	A logo that is only stylisation of the company name	No source-identifying function beyond the word itself	File a word mark instead of a design mark
Deceptive or misleading	A mark implying government affiliation	Requires deception to succeed	Avoid any national or official reference
Primarily a surname	A family name	Everyone has the right to use their own name	Add a distinctive element to the mark
Moral or scandalous	A term certain to offend a large group	Explicit public policy exclusion	Choose differently

The short version

Budget $350 to file yourself in one class with a word mark, or $850-$1,600 with an attorney who runs a clearance search and handles office actions. Confirm your name is clear before you invest in branding, claim only the classes you will actually use, and put a hard reminder in your calendar three months out in case a rejection letter arrives.