How to Trademark Your Artist Name With the USPTO

To trademark your artist name with the USPTO, you file an electronic application that identifies the mark, lists the goods or services you offer under it, and pays a base fee of $350 per class.¹ Before you file, you search existing marks for conflicts; after you file, an examining attorney reviews your application, and if nothing blocks it, your mark is published for a 30-day opposition window before the registration certificate issues. The typical timeline from filing to registration is 12 to 18 months.²

You already have some rights the moment you start performing or selling under a name. Those “common law” rights are automatic but geographically limited to where you’re actually active. Federal registration is what gives you a legal presumption of nationwide ownership, access to federal court, the ability to record the mark with U.S. Customs to block counterfeit imports, and a public database entry that discourages later applicants from picking anything close to your name.³

Can Your Artist Name Actually Be Registered?

The USPTO will only register a mark that is distinctive. Names that just describe what you do (something like “The Pop Singer”) face a likely refusal. Invented, arbitrary, or suggestive names sit at the strong end of the spectrum and clear examination most easily. Generic terms are never registrable, and merely descriptive terms are registrable only if you can prove the public already connects them to you.⁴

If your artist name is a common surname, expect extra resistance. The USPTO regularly refuses marks that are “primarily merely a surname” unless you can show the public associates the name with you specifically. The usual proof is five years of substantially exclusive and continuous use in commerce, backed by evidence like advertising spend, sales, media coverage, or consumer surveys. Marks that don’t clear this bar may still qualify for the weaker Supplemental Register, which many artists use as a stepping stone while their public recognition grows.

Search Before You File

A conflict search is the step that saves you money and months. The USPTO’s online search system (which replaced the older TESS tool in late 2023) is the essential starting point.⁵ Look for exact matches and phonetic near-matches; a mark doesn’t need to be identical to block yours, only similar enough to cause confusion in the same category of goods or services.

Then go beyond the USPTO database. Search streaming platforms, social media handles, merchandise stores, and domain registrations. Another artist using a similar name in music or entertainment may have common law rights that predate your filing, and those rights can defeat your application even without a federal registration on their side.

Preparing the Application

Standard Character or Special Form

Each application uses one drawing format. A standard character mark protects the words themselves in any font, size, or color. A special form mark protects a specific stylized design or logo. You pick one per application.⁶ Most artists start with the standard character mark for the broadest text-based protection and file separately for a logo when they have one.

Pick Your Classes

You have to describe what you offer under the name, sorted into numbered international classes. Each additional class adds another $350 filing fee, so choose based on what you actually sell or plan to sell. The classes most relevant to musicians and performing artists are:

Class 041 for entertainment services such as live musical performances
Class 009 for recorded music, downloadable audio files, and music videos
Class 025 for clothing and merchandise such as t-shirts and hats

Descriptions have to be specific. The USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual has pre-approved descriptions that keep your application clean and cost-efficient; vague wording invites a refusal or delays your filing date.⁷

Use in Commerce or Intent to Use

Every application needs a filing basis. If you’re already performing or selling under the name, file based on use in commerce and submit a specimen showing that use. If you haven’t launched yet but genuinely plan to, file based on intent to use.⁸

The intent-to-use path lets you claim your spot early, but the clock starts once the USPTO approves the mark and issues a Notice of Allowance. You then have six months to file a Statement of Use with a specimen of actual commercial use. Six-month extensions are available for a fee, but the entire window can’t exceed 36 months from the Notice of Allowance. Miss that final date and the application is abandoned with no revival.⁸

Specimens That Work

A specimen is real-world evidence that consumers actually see your mark in the marketplace. For live performances, a booking page or event listing showing the artist name works. For recorded music, a digital album cover on a streaming service qualifies. For merchandise, a photo of a t-shirt or poster bearing the name is appropriate.⁹ You need at least one specimen per class. Promotional materials that only advertise the name without attaching it to a specific product or service are rejected.

What Happens After You File

You file electronically through the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System. If you stick to pre-approved descriptions and submit a complete application, the $350-per-class base fee is usually all you owe upfront.¹

Your application gets a serial number and eventually reaches an examining attorney, who checks distinctiveness, conflicts, specimens, and descriptions. That first review alone can take several months, depending on USPTO workload.

If the examiner finds a problem, you receive an Office Action explaining it. You have three months to respond, with the option to buy a three-month extension.¹⁰ Missing that deadline abandons the application; you’d have to start over or attempt a revival that isn’t guaranteed to work.¹¹

Once approved, the mark is published in the USPTO’s weekly Trademark Official Gazette for a 30-day opposition period. Anyone who thinks your mark would harm them can file a formal challenge in that window. If no one opposes, or if you defeat an opposition, the registration certificate issues, usually three to four months after publication.¹²

Keeping the Registration Alive

Registration isn’t permanent by default. You have to prove ongoing use at set intervals or the USPTO cancels the mark, and this is where artists most often lose protection without noticing.

Between Years Five and Six

You must file a Section 8 Declaration of Use with a current specimen and a fee of $325 per class. A six-month grace period is available for an extra $100 per class.¹³ Miss the grace period and the registration is canceled with no remedy.

Between Years Nine and Ten, and Every Ten Years After

You file a combined Section 8 Declaration of Use and Section 9 Renewal for $650 per class, again with a current specimen. The same six-month grace period applies at $100 per class per section.¹³ Skip the filing and the registration expires.¹⁴

Incontestable Status at Year Five

After five consecutive years of continuous use following registration, and assuming no adverse legal decision and no pending proceedings, you can file a Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability for $250 per class.¹⁵ Once incontestable, the mark can no longer be challenged on most validity grounds, which particularly helps artists whose names might otherwise be attacked as descriptive or surname-based. Many attorneys file the Section 15 declaration together with the Section 8 declaration at the five-to-six-year mark.

Enforcing the Mark

Federal registration puts the policing burden on you. If you tolerate widespread unauthorized use, you can lose rights through erosion of distinctiveness. Monitor new trademark applications, domain registrations, social media accounts, and emerging artist names in your space. The standard first move against a confusingly similar user is a cease-and-desist letter, which resolves most disputes without litigation.

When a letter doesn’t work, registration gives you standing to sue in federal court. Available remedies include the infringer’s profits, your actual damages such as lost sales, and the costs of the suit; damages can be increased up to three times the actual amount when circumstances justify it, and attorney’s fees are available in exceptional cases.¹⁶ Courts can also order the infringer to stop and can seize and destroy counterfeit goods.

A U.S. Registration Only Covers the United States

If you perform or sell abroad, your USPTO registration won’t protect you in those markets. The Madrid Protocol offers a single filing route through the USPTO to extend a trademark into more than 100 countries. You need a pending or registered U.S. mark as the “basic” mark, and the USPTO recommends waiting until you’ve received your first Office Action or passed examination before filing internationally, since problems with the U.S. application can undermine the international one. You file through TEASi, designate countries, and pay a $100-per-class certification fee to the USPTO plus WIPO fees for each designated country. Every detail must match your U.S. filing exactly, and additional countries can be added later.¹⁷¹³

Ignore the Scam Letters

Within weeks of filing, you should expect official-looking mail or email demanding payment for trademark services you didn’t request. Some solicitations imitate government names like “Department of Commerce” or “US Patent and Trademark Office.” They are not from the government.¹⁸ Legitimate USPTO correspondence references your serial number and comes from a @uspto.gov email address. If you didn’t initiate the contact and it wants money, verify through the USPTO’s official site before paying.

When to Bring in an Attorney

The USPTO’s online resources are usable, and straightforward applications can be filed pro se. But the process has real pitfalls, especially if your name is a common word, a surname, or phonetically close to something already registered. A trademark attorney can run a fuller clearance search, draft the application to hold up under examination, and respond to Office Actions inside the deadline window. Standard clearance-and-application fees typically run between $1,250 and $2,000 on top of USPTO fees, which is modest against the cost of losing your $350-per-class filing fee to a preventable refusal.

1
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. How Long Does It Take to Register
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Strong Trademarks
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retiring TESS – What to Know About the New Trademark Search System
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawing of Your Trademark
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Goods and Services
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1051 – Registration of Mark
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawings and Specimens as Application Requirements
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Response Time Period
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Reviving an Abandoned Application
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Approval for Publication
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Keeping Your Registration Alive
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Definitions for Maintaining a Trademark Registration
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Outbound Madrid Protocol Application Process
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Examples of Fraudulent or Misleading Solicitations