Federal trademark registration costs $350 per class of goods or services as a base USPTO filing fee, but the realistic trademark registration cost runs anywhere from about $500 for a simple do-it-yourself application to $4,000 or more once you factor in surcharges, attorney fees, a clearance search, and the maintenance filings required to keep the registration alive. What you actually pay depends on how many classes your mark covers, whether you’re already selling under the mark, and whether you hire a lawyer.
All figures below reflect the USPTO fee schedule that took effect in January 2025.
The Base USPTO Filing Fee
An electronic application costs $350 per international class of goods or services. Paper filings cost $850 per class, so almost no one files on paper.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
If you’ve read older guides quoting $250 per class under something called TEAS Plus, that pricing no longer exists. In January 2025 the USPTO scrapped the old two-tier system (TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard) and replaced it with a single $350 base fee for applications filed under Sections 1 and 44 of the Trademark Act.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
The fee is charged per class. If your mark covers clothing (Class 25) and retail store services (Class 35), you’re paying $700 in base fees, not $350. There are 45 international classes in total, and you can look up where your goods or services fall using the USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Goods and Services – Section: Trademark Classes Filing fees are generally non-refundable, even if the USPTO refuses the application.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Refund Information
Surcharges That Raise the Filing Fee
The $350 base assumes you follow the USPTO’s preferred formatting. Step outside it and the fees stack up:
- Writing your own free-form description of goods or services instead of picking pre-approved entries from the Trademark ID Manual adds $200 per class.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
- If that free-form text runs over 1,000 characters in any class, each additional 1,000-character block costs another $200 per affected class.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
- An application that doesn’t contain enough information for the USPTO to establish a filing date triggers a $100-per-class deficiency surcharge.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
The practical lesson: pulling a pre-approved description from the ID Manual saves $200 per class. On a two-class application, that’s $400 back in your pocket.
Extra Fees for Intent-to-Use Applications
If you’re already using the mark in commerce, you file under Section 1(a) and the base fee covers everything through registration.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1051 – Application for Registration; Verification If you haven’t launched yet, you file an intent-to-use application under Section 1(b), and that route has follow-on costs.
Once the USPTO approves the mark and issues a Notice of Allowance, you have six months to file a Statement of Use showing the mark is being used in commerce. That filing is $150 per class electronically. Not ready in six months? You can buy six more with an extension request at $125 per class, and the USPTO allows up to four such extensions, for a maximum of 24 additional months.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule6eCFR. 37 CFR 2.89 – Extensions of Time for Filing a Statement of Use
A single-class applicant who ends up using every extension pays $150 for the Statement of Use plus $500 in extension fees, on top of the original $350 application. Budget for that possibility if your product launch date is soft.
Office Action Response Costs
If the examining attorney assigned to your file finds a problem, they’ll issue an Office Action listing what needs to be fixed. Responding is free, but requesting extra time to respond costs $125.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
The real cost is legal help. A short response to a technical issue might run a few hundred dollars in attorney time. A substantive refusal, for example a likelihood-of-confusion refusal citing an existing registered mark, can cost $1,000 to $2,500 to fight, with no guarantee of success. This is the biggest surprise expense for first-time applicants.
Attorney Fees and Clearance Searches
You can file without a lawyer, and the USPTO’s online system will walk you through it. Hiring a trademark attorney reduces the risk of a preventable refusal. Most charge between $1,000 and $3,000 to handle a routine application, depending on how many classes are involved and how complex the mark is.
A large part of that money buys a clearance search before filing. Professional search firms look beyond the federal register to state registrations, common-law usage, domain names, and business filings. A full search report typically costs $300 to $800. Skipping it to save money is a false economy if it leaves you paying non-refundable filing fees on an application that was always going to be refused.
Ongoing Maintenance Fees
Registration isn’t a one-time payment. The USPTO requires periodic filings that prove you’re still using the mark. Miss them and the registration is cancelled.
Section 8 Declaration at Five to Six Years
Between the fifth and sixth anniversary of registration, you file a Declaration of Continued Use with a specimen showing current commercial use. Electronic filing is $325 per class.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule A six-month grace period is available for an extra $100 per class.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information Miss the grace period and the registration is cancelled with no path back.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. Registration Maintenance/Renewal/Correction Forms
Ten-Year Renewal
Between the ninth and tenth anniversary, you file both a Section 8 declaration and a Section 9 renewal application. Each is $325 per class, so the combined fee is $650 per class filed electronically.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule The same filing repeats every ten years after that.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Keeping Your Registration Alive The same six-month grace period with a $100-per-class surcharge applies.
Calendar these dates when your registration certificate arrives. A missed maintenance filing throws away years of work and money.
Optional Section 15 Incontestability
After five consecutive years of continuous use post-registration, you can file a Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability for $250 per class.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes It’s optional and worth it for any mark you plan to keep long-term. Incontestable status blocks competitors from later challenging the basic validity of your mark, your ownership, or your exclusive right to use it. It doesn’t help if the mark becomes generic, is abandoned, or was obtained by fraud, but it takes the most common attacks off the table.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1065 – Incontestability of Right to Use Mark Under Certain Conditions
International Protection Is a Separate Budget
A US trademark registration protects the mark only in the United States. If you need protection abroad, the Madrid Protocol lets you file a single international application through the USPTO for $600 per class in certification fees, on top of separate WIPO and per-country charges.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule Even a modest international filing often runs into several thousand dollars, so treat it as a separate decision once the domestic mark is in place.
Realistic Total Budgets
Government fees only, based on common filing scenarios:
- Single-class application, mark already in use: $350 base fee. Add $200 if you need a free-form description. Total: $350 to $550.
- Single-class intent-to-use application: $350 base plus $150 Statement of Use, plus $125 per extension if needed. Total: $500 to $1,000.
- Two-class application, mark in use: $700 base. Total: $700 to $1,100.
- Five-year Section 8 maintenance: $325 per class.
- Ten-year renewal (Sections 8 and 9 combined): $650 per class.
With a trademark attorney charging $1,000 to $3,000 and a professional clearance search adding $300 to $800, a typical single-class, use-based application handled by counsel runs about $1,500 to $4,000 from filing through registration. Maintenance then costs $325 to $650 per class at each renewal window for as long as you keep the mark alive.