To trademark a shirt design, file an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office through its online system, pay a filing fee starting at $250 per class of goods, and make sure the mark you’re registering works as a brand identifier rather than as decorative artwork. That last point is where most apparel applications go wrong. Federal trademark law protects the names and logos that tell buyers who made a shirt. It does not protect a large graphic or slogan splashed across the front, which the USPTO treats as ornamental.
What Trademark Law Actually Protects on a Shirt
A trademark is a source identifier. On apparel, that means the brand name on the collar tag, a small logo on the chest pocket, a wordmark on a hangtag, or a logo on a tag above the back pocket of jeans. Consumers see marks in those places and connect them to the maker. That’s the function trademark registration is built to protect.
A large graphic, quote, or illustration covering the chest of a t-shirt is almost always considered “merely ornamental.” The USPTO has published specific examples of designs it will refuse on apparel: a quote displayed prominently across the front of a shirt, a logo on the front of a hat associated with a sports team that didn’t manufacture the hat, and a band name or album title displayed across a shirt. In each case, consumers read the design as decoration or affiliation, not as an indication of who made the garment.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Ornamental Refusal and How to Overcome This Refusal
Size, location, and dominance drive the analysis. A small, discrete mark placed where buyers expect branding functions as a trademark. A big design that dominates the garment functions as art. If your goal is to protect the artwork on the front of the shirt, copyright is the right tool. If your goal is to protect the brand behind the shirts, trademark registration is the right tool, and you need to use the mark like a brand on your products.
Search Before You File
The USPTO will refuse an application if your mark creates a likelihood of confusion with a mark that’s already registered. The filing fee is non-refundable, so a clearance search up front is worth the time.
Start with the USPTO’s free Trademark Search at tmsearch.uspto.gov. Check exact matches, spelling variations, and phonetic equivalents. If your name is “Starlight,” also try “Starlite” and “Star Light.” Focus on Class 25 (clothing) and related classes, because the confusion analysis weighs whether the marks appear on similar goods.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database
The USPTO database only shows federally registered marks and pending applications. Businesses can also acquire “common law” trademark rights simply by using a name or logo in commerce, and those rights, though geographically limited, can still create conflicts. A general web search, a state business registry check, and a domain search help catch unregistered marks before they become a problem.
Preparing the Application
Applications are filed online through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). Have the following ready before you start:
- Applicant information: your full legal name and address, or your business entity’s name and address if the company is the applicant.
- Type of mark: a standard character mark protects the words themselves in any font or style; a special form (design) mark protects a specific logo or stylized version and requires a clear JPG image of the mark.3United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawing of Your Trademark
- Class of goods: t-shirts, hoodies, and most other clothing sit in International Class 25.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Goods and Services
- Filing basis: file under “use in commerce” if you’re already selling shirts with the mark, or under “intent to use” if you plan to but haven’t started.5United States Patent and Trademark Office. Basis
Specimens of Use
Use-in-commerce applications require a specimen showing how the mark actually appears on the product in the real world. For clothing, that means a photo of the mark on a hangtag, a sewn-in neck label, or product packaging. The specimen has to show the mark being used as a brand identifier. A mockup or digital rendering won’t work, and a photo of the logo printed large across the chest won’t either, because that shows ornamental use rather than trademark use.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Ornamental Refusal and How to Overcome This Refusal
Intent-to-Use Applications
Filing under intent to use lets you claim the mark before you launch. You don’t submit a specimen at filing. After the mark clears examination and the opposition period, the USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance, and you then have six months to file a Statement of Use with a specimen and a $150-per-class fee.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information Six-month extensions are available at $125 per class, up to five extensions for a total of 36 months from the Notice of Allowance.7eCFR. 37 CFR 2.89 – Extensions of Time for Filing a Statement of Use
Filing Fees
The USPTO offers two filing options:
- TEAS Plus at $250 per class, which requires you to describe your goods using pre-approved language from the USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual. For straightforward clothing applications, terms like “t-shirts” and “hoodies” are already in the manual.
- TEAS Standard at $350 per class, which lets you write a custom description. Choose it if the pre-approved options don’t fit what you’re selling.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information
If your goods span more than one class, you pay the per-class fee for each. A clothing line paired with custom printing services would mean two classes and double the filing fee.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. How Much Does It Cost The fee is non-refundable whether the application succeeds or not.
What Happens After You File
The USPTO assigns your application to an examining attorney. As of early 2026, the average wait for that first review is about 4.5 months from filing.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Processing Wait Times The examiner checks for legal compliance, searches for conflicts with existing registrations, and evaluates whether the mark functions as a trademark on the listed goods.
Office Actions
If the examiner finds a problem — a likelihood of confusion, a specimen that doesn’t qualify, a goods description that needs revision — you’ll receive an Office Action. You have three months to respond with corrections or legal arguments. Miss the deadline and the application is declared abandoned.10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Response Time Period A three-month extension is available for $125.11United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule Ornamental refusals are common on apparel applications, so expect one if the specimen shows the mark used as a big decorative element.
Publication and Opposition
Once the examiner approves the mark, the USPTO publishes it in the Official Gazette.12United States Patent and Trademark Office. Official Gazette That opens a 30-day window for third parties to oppose registration if they believe they’d be harmed by it.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1063 – Opposition to Registration If no opposition is filed and the application was based on use in commerce, the USPTO issues a Certificate of Registration. For intent-to-use applications, the Notice of Allowance arrives at this stage, and registration follows the Statement of Use. Start to finish, a clean application typically takes 12 to 18 months.
Using the TM and ® Symbols
You can use TM (™) on your mark immediately, with or without a filing. It signals that you claim the word, logo, or phrase as a trademark.
The registered symbol (®) is different. Federal law reserves it for marks actually registered with the USPTO. Using it on a pending application can jeopardize the application and may constitute fraud if done with intent to deceive.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1111 – Notice of Registration Once registration issues, displaying the ® symbol matters practically: without it, a trademark owner suing for infringement can’t recover profits or damages unless the infringer had actual knowledge of the registration.
Keeping the Registration Alive
The certificate isn’t the finish line. Federal registrations require periodic maintenance filings, and a missed deadline means cancellation with no reinstatement. If that happens, the only path back is a new application.
Six-Year Declaration
Between the fifth and sixth year after registration, file a Section 8 Declaration of Use showing the mark is still in use in commerce. The fee is $325 per class filed electronically. A six-month grace period with a late fee is available, but after that the registration is canceled.15United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post-Registration Timeline11United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
Ten-Year Renewals
Every ten years after registration, file a combined Section 8 Declaration of Use and Section 9 Renewal Application. Combined electronic fees run $650 per class ($325 for each filing). Miss the deadline and the registration both expires and is canceled.15United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post-Registration Timeline
Incontestability
After five consecutive years of use following registration, you can file a Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability. It’s optional, but it limits the grounds on which competitors can later challenge the mark. The filing window opens within one year after any five-year period of continuous use following registration.16United States Patent and Trademark Office. Declaration of Incontestability of a Mark under Section 15
Enforcement Is on You
The USPTO registers trademarks. It does not police them. If someone starts selling shirts with a logo confusingly similar to yours, taking action is your responsibility. Courts look unfavorably on owners who sit on their rights, and extended inaction can weaken or forfeit the ability to enforce the mark later.
Monitoring doesn’t have to be expensive. Run periodic USPTO searches for new applications that resemble your mark, watch for your brand name on the web, and check the marketplaces where counterfeit apparel tends to surface. A cease-and-desist letter is usually the first step. Once the mark is registered, the ® on your products and the federal registration behind it give the letter real weight.