Trademarking a name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office starts at $350 per class of goods or services, and a typical single-class filing handled by an attorney runs between $1,100 and $2,350 all in.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes What you actually pay depends on how many product categories the name covers, whether you file before or after using it in commerce, whether you hire counsel, and the maintenance fees that keep coming for as long as you own the registration. Complications during examination can push the total higher.
The $350 Base Fee and Its Surcharges
Since January 2025, the USPTO has charged a single base application fee of $350 per class, replacing the old TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard tiers.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes The fee is nonrefundable, even if your application is refused.
Two surcharges catch filers off guard. The first is a $200-per-class charge for writing your own description of goods or services rather than picking from the USPTO’s pre-approved Trademark ID Manual, which brings the class fee to $550.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Additional Fees for Trademark Applications If a custom description runs longer than 1,000 characters, another $200 applies for each additional 1,000-character block. The second is a $100-per-class surcharge when the application is missing basic information the examining attorney has to request.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
Sticking with the ID Manual’s pre-approved descriptions is the easiest way to keep the fee at $350.
How Many Classes You Need
The USPTO sorts every type of product and service into 45 international classes, and you pay the base fee separately for each one.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Goods and Services Classes are the single biggest variable in what you owe the government.
A brand selling only T-shirts pays $350 for one class. Add custom printing services and those services land in a different class, doubling the fee to $700. A tech company registering a name for software, consulting, and online education could sit in three classes for $1,050 at minimum, or $1,650 if it uses free-form descriptions in each.
Picking the wrong class is more than a wasted fee. It can leave the name unprotected in the category where you actually do business, so it’s worth working through the ID Manual carefully before you file.
If You Haven’t Started Using the Name Yet
You can file based on a bona fide intent to use the name in commerce, which is common for businesses still in development. It comes with extra fees that use-based applicants don’t pay.
After the USPTO approves the mark and issues a Notice of Allowance, you have to file a Statement of Use showing the name is actually in commercial use. That filing costs $150 per class. If you’re not ready, you can buy a six-month extension for $125 per class, and you can request up to five of them.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule A two-class applicant who needs two extensions before launching would pay an extra $850 beyond the initial filing: $300 for the Statements of Use and $550 for the extensions. Each extension is nonrefundable whether you end up registering or not.
Attorney Fees
If you’re domiciled in the United States, you’re not required to hire an attorney, though the USPTO strongly encourages it. Foreign-domiciled applicants have no choice; they must be represented by a U.S.-licensed attorney for all trademark filings.5United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Rule Requires Domicile Address for All Filers
Most trademark attorneys offer flat-rate packages for a standard single-class application, typically $750 to $2,000. These packages usually include a clearance search and the filing itself. More complex situations run higher, especially when a search turns up potential conflicts that need analysis.
Legal costs really climb after filing. If the examining attorney issues an office action refusing your mark, you have three months to respond, with the option to buy one three-month extension for a fee.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Response Time Period Drafting a response is usually billed hourly, commonly $225 to $500 per hour depending on the attorney’s experience and location. A simple procedural response might take two hours; a substantive argument against a likelihood-of-confusion refusal can take considerably more. If someone opposes your mark at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, opposition proceedings start with a $600-per-class filing fee for the opposing party and can cost both sides thousands in legal work.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of FY 2021 Final Trademark Fee Rule
Skipping the attorney to save $1,000 up front can backfire if a preventable office action or an overlooked conflicting mark derails the application. The clearance search alone is often worth the cost, because it’s far cheaper to learn about a conflict before filing than after.
Maintenance and Renewal Fees
Registration isn’t the end of the spending. The USPTO requires periodic filings proving you’re still using the name, and missing a deadline means losing the registration.
The first mandatory filing is a Section 8 Declaration of Use, due between the fifth and sixth year after registration. You submit proof the mark is still in active use with the registered goods or services, along with a fee of $325 per class.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule At the same time, you have the option to file a Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability for $250 per class, which limits the grounds on which someone can later challenge your registration.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. Definitions for Maintaining a Trademark Registration Section 15 is not required, but it’s an inexpensive legal upgrade for an established mark.
Between the ninth and tenth year, and every ten years after that, you file a combined Section 8 Declaration and Section 9 Renewal Application. Each carries its own $325-per-class fee, so the combined filing costs $650 per class.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule For a two-class registration, that’s $1,300 every decade just to keep the mark alive.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Maintaining Your Federal Registration
What Missing a Deadline Costs
Miss a maintenance deadline and you get a six-month grace period, but each late filing adds $100 per class. A Section 8 declaration filed during the grace period runs $425 instead of $325 on a single-class registration. A combined Section 8 and Section 9 in the grace period runs $850 per class, because each portion carries its own $100 late surcharge.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule Miss the grace period, and the registration is canceled with no further recourse.
On the application side, failing to respond to an office action within the deadline causes the application to be declared abandoned.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Response Time Period You can file a petition to revive for $250, but you have to show the failure to respond was unintentional, and revival isn’t guaranteed.10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information Starting over means paying the full application fee again.
Total Cost Scenarios
Costs stack differently depending on your situation:
- DIY single-class, use-based, using the ID Manual: $350 government fee. This is the absolute minimum, with no attorney and no complications.
- Single-class with attorney: $1,100 to $2,350, combining the $350 government fee and $750 to $2,000 in typical flat-rate legal fees.
- Two-class with attorney: $1,450 to $2,700, assuming $700 in government fees and a similar attorney range (most firms charge modestly more for a second class).
- Intent-to-use, single-class with attorney and one extension: $1,375 to $2,625, adding $150 for the Statement of Use and $125 for the extension on top of base filing and attorney fees.
- First ten years of maintenance, single-class: $975 total, or $325 for the year-five Section 8 and $650 for the combined Section 8 and Section 9 renewal at year ten.
These figures assume no office actions, no oppositions, and no grace-period surcharges. Once an examining attorney refuses the mark, add attorney hours at $225 to $500 for the response. A realistic first-decade budget builds in a contingency of at least $500 to $1,500 above these baselines.