How to Own Your Business Name: State Registration and Federal Trademarks

To own your business name, you register it in two different places for two different reasons: with your state’s Secretary of State to form your LLC, corporation, or DBA, and with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to hold the brand as a federal trademark. Learning how to register and trademark a business name means understanding that these are separate filings with separate offices, separate fees, and separate legal effects. State registration lets you legally operate under the name in that state. Federal trademark registration gives you nationwide ownership of the brand and the right to enforce it in federal court.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark

State Registration and Federal Trademarks Do Different Jobs

A trade name is the name of your business — the one you put on formation documents or a “Doing Business As” certificate. A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or design that identifies the source of your goods or services and distinguishes them from competitors. Trade names get filed with the state. Trademarks get filed with the USPTO.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. How Trademarks and Trade Names Differ

Forming an LLC called “Sunrise Bakery” in your state does not stop someone in another state from opening their own “Sunrise Bakery” or from federally trademarking that name. If they get the trademark first, they could force you to rebrand. Any business planning to grow beyond one state generally needs both filings.

Check the Name Before You File Anything

Skipping the search is how new businesses end up with cease-and-desist letters six months after launch. You need to check three separate places.

State Business Records

Start with your Secretary of State’s online business name database. Your proposed name must be “distinguishable” from names already on file, which is a stricter standard than it sounds. Adding “The” in front of an existing name, or swapping “and” for an ampersand, usually will not qualify. If your name is too close to an existing entity, the state will reject your formation documents.

This search only covers formal entities. Sole proprietors and general partnerships often register at the county level through fictitious name or DBA filings, and those records may not appear in the statewide database. Checking county records where you plan to operate catches conflicts a state search misses.

The Federal Trademark Database

A name can be free in your state’s records and already owned as a federal trademark. The USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Search System lets you search registered marks and pending applications.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Federal Trademark Searching Search for exact matches, similar-sounding names, alternate spellings, and related visual designs. The legal standard is “likelihood of confusion” — if a consumer could reasonably mistake your name for an existing mark, that is a problem even when the names are not identical.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1052 – Trademarks Registrable on Principal Register

Domains and Social Handles

A name can be legally clear and practically unusable if a competitor already holds the obvious web domain. Check domain registries for your preferred extensions and search major social platforms for the handle. Finding out your name is taken online after you have already filed formation paperwork is an avoidable setback.

What Using a Name Gets You Without Registering

You do not technically need to register anything to have some trademark rights. Using a name in commerce creates “common law” trademark rights, which let you stop competitors from using your name in ways that would confuse customers.

The limit is geographic. A bakery in Denver with no registration can stop a copycat across town, but it has no leverage against someone using the same name in Miami. Federal registration under the Lanham Act removes that geographic limit and gives you a legal presumption of nationwide ownership.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark Without federal registration, you can still sue under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act if someone uses a confusingly similar name in commerce, but you carry the burden of proving your mark is valid and protectable, a burden registered owners do not face.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1125 – False Designations of Origin and False Descriptions Forbidden

Registering the Name With Your State

Forming an LLC or Corporation

To form an entity, you file formation documents with your Secretary of State: Articles of Organization for an LLC or Articles of Incorporation for a corporation. These typically require your business name, a physical street address (P.O. boxes are generally not accepted), the names of organizers or officers, and registered agent information.

The name must include a legal designator. LLCs need “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.” Corporations generally need “Inc.,” “Corp.,” “Incorporated,” or a similar indicator. Leaving this off gets your filing rejected.

Every state requires a registered agent — a person or service with a physical address in the state, available during normal business hours to accept legal documents on the company’s behalf. Failing to maintain one can cost the entity its good standing.

Filing fees vary widely, generally running from around $50 to $500 depending on state and entity type. Most states offer online portals with faster turnaround than paper, and many offer expedited processing for an extra fee, sometimes down to one or two business days.

Filing a DBA

Sole proprietors using a name other than their legal name, and companies operating under a name different from their registered entity name, file a DBA (also called a fictitious name or assumed name certificate). These get filed at the state or county level depending on where you operate and typically cost between $25 and $100. A DBA does not create a separate legal entity; it puts the public on notice that you are doing business under that name.

Reserving a Name First

If the name is available but you are not ready to file formation documents, most states let you reserve it for a limited period, commonly 120 days, for a small fee often between $20 and $35. The reservation holds the name while you finalize paperwork, and it converts to a permanent registration once you file.

Filing the Federal Trademark Application

What to Have Ready

A federal trademark application takes more preparation than a state filing. You need to identify the class or classes of goods or services your mark covers. The USPTO uses an international classification system with 45 classes, and each class you include adds to your fee. You also need a clear description of what you sell.

If you are already using the mark in commerce, you submit a specimen showing how the mark appears to customers. For physical goods, that might be a photo of a label, hang tag, or packaging displaying the mark. For services, a screenshot of your website advertising the service works, as long as it includes the URL and the date you accessed it.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawings and Specimens as Application Requirements

Filing Before You’ve Launched

You do not have to wait until your product ships. An intent-to-use application under Section 1(b) of the Lanham Act lets you claim a filing date while you are still preparing to launch.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Applications – Intent-to-Use Basis The filing date establishes your priority over anyone who files for the same mark after you. The tradeoff: you must eventually file a Statement of Use showing the mark in actual commerce, and if you miss the deadline the application is abandoned.

Fees

The base electronic filing fee is $350 per class when you pick your descriptions from the USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual. Writing your own free-form descriptions triggers an additional $200 per class surcharge, bringing the total to $550 per class.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule A business spanning two classes pays $700 at the lower tier or $1,100 at the higher one. Fees are non-refundable; a denied application does not get its money back.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information

Submitting the Application

Applications go through the USPTO’s Trademark Center, which replaced the older TEAS system for new applications as of January 2025.10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Apply Online You will need a USPTO.gov account with identity verification before you can access the filing forms. The system runs some automated checks for basic errors, but it does not evaluate the legal strength of your application. That is the examining attorney’s job.

What Happens After You File the Trademark

Filing is the beginning, not the end. The timeline from filing to registration averages about 10 months and sometimes runs longer.11United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Processing Wait Times

Examination

Your application is assigned to a USPTO examining attorney who reviews it for legal compliance, searches the database for conflicting marks, evaluates whether your mark is too descriptive or generic for the goods identified, and checks that your specimens and descriptions meet the requirements.12United States Patent and Trademark Office. Examination of Your Application First review typically happens about four to five months after filing.11United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Processing Wait Times

Office Actions

If the examining attorney finds problems, you get an office action: a formal letter explaining the refusal and, where possible, suggesting fixes. Common reasons include likelihood of confusion with an existing mark, a merely descriptive mark, or deficient specimens. You have three months from the date of the office action to respond, with the option to buy a three-month extension for an additional fee.13United States Patent and Trademark Office. Response Time Period Miss the deadline and the application is abandoned, taking your filing fee and priority date with it. Most trademark applications that die do so here, not because the mark was unregistrable but because the applicant missed a deadline or did not know how to address the issues.

Publication

If your application clears examination, the mark is published in the Trademark Official Gazette for 30 days. During that window, anyone who believes your mark would harm them can file an opposition. If no one opposes and you have already shown use in commerce, the USPTO proceeds to registration. For intent-to-use applications, the USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance, and you then file your Statement of Use within six months (with possible extensions) before registration is complete.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Applications – Intent-to-Use Basis

Keeping Both Registrations Alive

Neither filing is one-and-done. Both require ongoing maintenance, and skipping filings can cost you the name.

State Annual Reports

Most states require LLCs and corporations to file periodic reports, usually called annual reports or statements of information, to confirm the business address, officers, and registered agent are current. Frequency varies: some states every year, some every two, a few far less often. Fees range from $0 to several hundred dollars.

Missing these filings triggers administrative dissolution, which strips the entity of legal authority to do business. A dissolved entity cannot bring lawsuits, and people who act on behalf of a dissolved company may face personal liability for obligations incurred while the entity was inactive. If another business registers your name while you are dissolved, you generally lose the right to reclaim it even after reinstatement.

Federal Trademark Maintenance

Federal trademarks require specific filings at specific intervals or the registration is canceled.14United States Patent and Trademark Office. Keeping Your Registration Alive

  • Between years 5 and 6, file a Section 8 Declaration of Use proving the mark is still in commerce. The fee is $325 per class.15United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
  • Between years 9 and 10, file a combined Section 8 Declaration of Use and Section 9 Renewal Application. Combined cost is $650 per class ($325 each).
  • Every 10 years after that, file the same combined Section 8 and Section 9 documents between the 19th and 20th years, 29th and 30th years, and so on.

Each deadline has a six-month grace period, but late filing adds a surcharge. Miss the grace period and the registration is canceled with no automatic reinstatement.

Getting an EIN Once the Name Is Registered

Once your business name is registered, you will likely need an Employer Identification Number from the IRS before you can open a business bank account, hire employees, or file tax returns. Any LLC, corporation, or partnership needs an EIN regardless of whether it has employees.16Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number Sole proprietors need one if they hire employees or pay certain excise taxes; otherwise, they can use their Social Security number.

The application is free and takes minutes on the IRS website. If approved, you receive your EIN immediately.17Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number There is never a fee to get an EIN directly from the IRS, so be wary of third-party sites that charge for it. Register the entity with your state first, since the IRS expects legal entities to already exist when you apply.