Depending on the type of application filed, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) levies a filing fee for electronic applications ranging from $225 to $400 per class of goods or services. The cost for submitting a paper application is $600 for each class. In addition, there is a registration charge if your trademark is accepted, which ranges from $125 to $400 per class of products or services.
It’s important to keep in mind that trademark registration costs extend beyond the initial filing fees. Trademarks must be kept up-to-date through recurrent filings, such as a renewal application and a declaration of use. It’s crucial to account for these costs in your budget because they can build up over time. Do I Need to Register to Use the Trademark Symbol?
Using the TM sign to claim a trademark on a name or logo is lawful, but it’s crucial to understand that this does not provide the same level of legal protection as a registered trademark. The ® symbol can only be used by trademarks that have been officially registered, and if your trademark is used without your permission, you have the legal right to sue for infringement and seek damages.
Trademark protection is different from copyright protection. Original works of authorship, such as books, music, and artwork, are protected by copyright laws. On the other hand, names, logos, and slogans that are used to identify a company and its goods or services are covered by trademark protection.
Instead of requesting copyright protection, you should register your logo as a trademark if you wish to keep it private. While copyright protection does provide some legal protection for logos and other branding aspects, it is not as effective as trademark protection.
A corporate structure called an LLC (Limited liabilities Company) protects owners from personal liabilities. A name, logo, or slogan that is used to identify a company and its goods or services is protected by law as a trademark.
Even though an LLC and a trademark are two distinct entities, they can be used in conjunction to protect your company. You may prevent others from using your company name to mislead customers and steal business by registering it as a trademark. Additionally, by creating an LLC, you can safeguard your private assets in the event of a lawsuit or other legal matter.
A trademark application may be denied by the USPTO for a variety of reasons. The trademark’s close resemblance to an already-existing trademark is one of the most frequent causes. To make sure that your proposed trademark is not too similar to an already-existing one, the USPTO will run a search of registered trademarks.
Other grounds for rejecting a trademark application include misclassification of the products or services, a lack of sufficient proof of trademark usage, and a failure to respond to USPTO requests for more information.
To sum up, trademark registration is a crucial step for any company wanting to safeguard its name, logo, or slogan. It’s crucial to consider the continuous costs of preserving the trademark over time, even if the cost of trademark registration might vary depending on a variety of criteria, including the type of application and the number of classes of goods or services. You can be sure that you are taking the required precautions to safeguard your company and its intellectual property by being aware of the differences between trademarks and other legal protections, such as LLCs and copyright.
In general, trademarking a logo is a more involved procedure than trademarking a company name. It is advised to work with a trademark lawyer to make sure the trademark application is submitted properly and to improve the likelihood of success. To make sure that your logo hasn’t previously been registered by someone else, start by completing a trademark search if you decide to handle it yourself. Then, you may submit a trademark application to the USPTO with a detailed description of your logo and any connected words or slogans. Currently, a trademark registration application costs $275 per class of goods or services.