BRAND BASICS · US-FIRST · 2026
How to trademark a logo (or your business name)
What it costs, how long it takes, whether a local business needs to, logo or name first, and the step-by-step through the USPTO — with every US fee read off uspto.gov and dated. One paragraph each for the UK and Australia.
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The short answer
In the US you trademark a logo by searching the USPTO's records for similar marks, then filing an application in the USPTO's Trademark Center: the base fee is $350 per class of goods or services (USPTO fee schedule in force since 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026), and the USPTO says it may take a number of months before an examining attorney reviews it. You own a trademark from the moment you use it in business; registering it gives you nationwide rights, the ® symbol and the right to sue in federal court.
This guide is written for the US first; the UK and Australia differ in fee, office and timing, and each gets its own paragraph below. Before you spend a dollar on filing, make sure the name is one you can keep: the business name ideas pages cover checking a name, and the free logo maker gives you the logo file you'd file.
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Do you need to trademark your logo at all?
In the US, you become a trademark owner as soon as you start using your mark with your goods or services — no filing needed. That's the USPTO's own wording. Those unregistered rights are real but local: they cover the area where you actually trade, and you mark them with TM (goods) or SM (services). Registering with the USPTO is what turns them into nationwide rights, a legal presumption that you own the mark, the right to sue in federal court and the right to use the ® symbol.
So the question is how far your brand reaches. A plumber, a cleaner or a café serving one town usually isn't competing with a business two states away over the name. Register when:
- You sell beyond your area — online, by mail, or through a product on shelves — so a same-named business elsewhere can collide with you.
- You plan to grow into more cities, a second location or a franchise. Registering early is far cheaper than renaming later.
- You've invested in the brand — signage, a fleet, packaging, a following — and a copycat would cost you customers.
- Someone is already copying you, or you've been told your name is close to someone else's. Search first (step 1 below) before you spend on either.
Outside the US the rules differ — see the UK and Australia paragraphs below.
Logo or business name: which do you file?
In the US you file your mark in one of two drawing formats, and the USPTO says you must pick one per application, not both:
- A standard character mark protects the words themselves — your business name in any font, size or color. The USPTO calls this the broadest protection: it covers the name however it is written.
- A special form (design) mark protects a particular depiction — your logo as drawn, with its shapes, stylized letters or colors. It protects only that depiction.
For most small businesses, the name comes first. Customers search for, say and recommend the words; a logo gets redesigned every few years, and a design registration doesn't follow it. File the logo too when the mark itself is what people recognize — a symbol on a van or a product — or when the logo carries distinct artwork you want to stop others copying. Two marks means two applications and two fees.
One thing a trademark is not: your business registration. The USPTO's own flyer on how trademarks and trade names differ puts it simply: you register trade names (business names, DBA names) with your state to conduct business there, and you register trademarks with the USPTO to secure nationwide ownership rights. And the USPTO's process page adds that registering a domain name with a registrar doesn't give you any trademark rights. The name search before you commit — state records, the USPTO database, the domain and the social handles — is what the business name ideas pages walk through.
USPTO FEES · OCTOBER 2026
How much does it cost to trademark a logo in the US?
Government fees only, per class of goods or services, as published on the USPTO's fee page (USPTO fee schedule in force since 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026). An attorney's fees, if you use one, come on top.
| Fee | Amount per class | When you pay it |
|---|---|---|
| Base application | $350 | When you file. One class covers one category of goods or services; a logo used for both a service and a product is two classes. |
| Insufficient information | +$100 | Added when the application is missing required details. Avoid it by completing every field. |
| Free-form goods and services | +$200 | Added when you describe your goods or services in your own words instead of picking from the USPTO's ID Manual. |
| Extra description length | +$200 | Per 1,000 characters of free-form description beyond the first 1,000. |
| Statement of use | $150 | Intent-to-use applications only: when you later show the mark in use. |
| Extension of time | $125 | Intent-to-use only: each extension of time before you file the statement of use. |
| Section 8 declaration | $325 | Between the fifth and sixth year after registration, to show you're still using the mark. A six-month grace period follows, with an extra fee. |
| Section 8 and 9 combined renewal | $650 | Between the ninth and tenth year, then every ten years. |
| Section 15 incontestability | $250 | Optional, once the mark has had at least five years' continuous use, to make the registration harder to challenge. |
Fees as published by the USPTO (USPTO fee schedule in force since 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026). A typical first filing for one class, done yourself and picking from the ID Manual, is the $350 base fee. The USPTO says you aren't required to have an attorney if you live in the US, but strongly encourages one; applicants living outside the US must use a US-licensed attorney.
STEP BY STEP · UNITED STATES
How to trademark a logo in the US
The USPTO's process in six steps. The same steps register a business name; only the mark format changes.
Search for similar marks
Use the USPTO's Trademark Search system to look for marks that look or sound like yours for related goods or services. The test the examiner applies is likelihood of confusion, so near-misses matter, not only exact matches.
Decide what you're protecting
Name (standard characters), logo (special form), or both as two applications. Pick the class or classes of goods or services the mark is used for; each class carries its own fee.
Prepare the application
The owner's details, a clear drawing of the mark (your logo file for a design mark), the goods or services picked from the USPTO's ID Manual, your filing basis (already in use, or intent to use), and a specimen showing the mark in use if it already is.
File in Trademark Center and pay
Submit the application online in the USPTO's Trademark Center and pay the per-class fee. You'll get a serial number to track it; check its status regularly, because missing a deadline can abandon the application.
Work with the examining attorney
The USPTO says it may take a number of months before an examining attorney reviews your application. If they raise an issue (an office action), you have three months from its issue date to respond.
Publication, registration, maintenance
Approved marks are published; anyone has 30 days to oppose. If no one does, a use-based application registers (an intent-to-use one gets a notice of allowance first). Then keep using the mark and file the Section 8 declaration in years five to six and the combined renewal in years nine to ten.
How to trademark a business name
In the US, trademarking a business name is the same USPTO application as a logo, filed as a standard character mark. You search the USPTO's records, pick the classes your business trades in, file in Trademark Center and pay $350 per class (USPTO fee schedule in force since 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026). Because a standard character mark covers the words in any font or color, it is usually the first registration a growing business should hold.
Three things trip people up. First, the USPTO says generic terms aren't registrable at all and descriptive ones ('Best Plumbing') only in certain circumstances, such as years of use making them distinctive; made-up, arbitrary or suggestive names are the strong ones. Second, your name must be in use with the goods or services, or filed on an intent to use it, with a statement of use to follow. Third, your LLC or state business registration is a trade name, not a trademark: the USPTO notes you register trade names with your state to conduct business there and trademarks with the USPTO for nationwide rights, so a name that is 'available' at the state registry can still clash with someone's federal mark.
Still picking the name? Start with the business name ideas pages, which pair each list with the checks worth running — the USPTO search, the state business-name search, the domain and the social handles — before you print a sign.
How long trademark registration takes in the US
The USPTO doesn't quote one number. Its process page says it may take a number of months before an examining attorney reviews your application; if the mark is approved it is published for a 30-day opposition window, and the USPTO says it can take three to four months from the notice of publication before you receive the official notice. Add any back-and-forth over office actions (three months to respond to each) and a straightforward application is a matter of many months, not weeks.
The USPTO publishes its current processing wait times from its Apply page, and that figure is the one to plan around rather than any guide's estimate. You can use TM or SM from day one while you wait; the ® symbol only after the registration certificate issues.
Trademark vs copyright for a logo
A trademark protects your logo as a sign of where your goods or services come from; a copyright protects an original work of art. The USPTO's framing: a trademark covers a word, phrase, design or combination that identifies your goods or services, while copyright covers artistic, literary and other created works. The US Copyright Office adds that copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans or short phrases — those may be protected as trademarks — but copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship.
In practice: a plain wordmark is a trademark question only. An illustrated logo can be both, but it's the trademark that stops a competitor using a confusingly similar mark on similar services, which is the harm a small business actually faces. If a designer drew your logo, have your attorney confirm the artwork's rights were assigned to you before you file.
Outside the US: the UK and Australia
In the UK, you file with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) rather than the USPTO: an online application for one class costs £205 (£250 on paper), more for each additional class, the IPO says it usually takes around three to four months to be granted when there are no issues, and a registered trade mark lasts ten years before renewal (IPO fee list: TM3 form revised April 2026, page updated 23 July 2026; read 24 October 2026).
In Australia, you file with IP Australia: a standard online application costs A$250 per class when you pick your goods and services from its list (A$400 if you write your own), its TM Headstart pre-check costs A$200 per class plus A$130 per class to convert to a full application, examination usually takes three to four months followed by a two-month window in which anyone can oppose, and registration gives ten years' protection from the filing date (IP Australia, read 24 October 2026; the pages carry no publication date).
Canada (CIPO), the European Union (EUIPO) and New Zealand (IPONZ) each run their own registers with their own fees and timelines; a US registration can be the basis for filing abroad, but it protects you only in the US. This page explains the process; it isn't legal advice. Before you file, check the current fees on your trademark office's own site and talk to a trademark attorney about your name, your logo and the classes to cover.
Trademarking a logo: common questions
In the US, the USPTO's base application fee is $350 per class of goods or services (USPTO fee schedule in force since 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026), with surcharges of $100 for missing information and $200 for describing your goods in your own words instead of the ID Manual. Keeping it registered costs $325 per class in years five to six and $650 per class in years nine to ten. An attorney's fees are extra. In the UK an online application is £205 for one class; in Australia A$250 per class.
The USPTO doesn't give one figure. It says it may take a number of months before an examining attorney reviews the application, approved marks are published for a 30-day opposition window, and it can take three to four months from publication to the official notice. Plan on many months for a straightforward US application, and check the current processing wait times the USPTO publishes from its Apply page. The UK IPO says around three to four months when there are no issues; IP Australia says three to four months to examine, then two months for oppositions.
In the US, yes if you live in the US or its territories: the USPTO says you aren't required to have an attorney, though it strongly encourages hiring one who specializes in trademark law. Applicants living outside the US must use a US-licensed attorney. A search mistake or a wrongly chosen class is the expensive error, so an hour with a trademark attorney before filing is often money well spent.
Usually the name first. In the US a standard character mark protects the words in any font or color, which the USPTO calls the broadest protection, and names outlast logo redesigns. File the logo as a design mark too when the symbol itself is what customers recognize or when its artwork is distinctive. Each is its own application and fee.
In the US, TM (for goods) or SM (for services) tells people you claim the mark; you can use it from the day you start using the mark, registered or not. The USPTO's rule is to use the ® symbol only once it has registered your mark.
No. In the US, forming an LLC or registering a trade name with your state is a trade-name registration: the USPTO's flyer on the difference says you register trade names with your state to conduct business there, and trademarks with the USPTO to secure nationwide ownership rights; its process page adds that registering a domain name doesn't give you any trademark rights. Only a trademark gives you the right to stop others using a confusingly similar name for related goods or services.
No. A trademark protects a word, phrase or design that identifies the source of goods or services; a copyright protects original creative works. The US Copyright Office says copyright doesn't protect names, titles, slogans or short phrases, which may instead be trademarks, though logo artwork with sufficient authorship can qualify for copyright. For stopping a competitor using a similar brand, the trademark is the tool.
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Where these fees and rules come from
Every fee and process statement on this page is read off the trademark office's own page — the USPTO, the UK IPO and IP Australia — dated below, and quoted in its own terms where it matters. Fees change; the office's page is current, this one is dated. Related: business name ideas, the free logo maker, what is a favicon and Zarla's small business website builder.
- USPTO — Trademark fee information — dated 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Trademark process — dated 11 August 2026, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — What is a trademark? — dated 30 November 2023, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Drawing of your trademark — dated 18 January 2025, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Why register your trademark? — dated 17 May 2024, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Search trademarks — dated 8 April 2026, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Trademark, patent, or copyright — dated 3 February 2025, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Strong trademarks — dated 30 November 2023, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Keeping your registration alive — dated 9 September 2025, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — How trademarks and trade names differ (flyer) — no date on the page, read 24 October 2026
- USPTO — Apply for a trademark — dated 22 October 2026, read 24 October 2026
- U.S. Copyright Office — What does copyright protect? (FAQ) — no date on the page, read 24 October 2026
- GOV.UK — How to register a trade mark — no date on the page, read 24 October 2026
- GOV.UK — Trade mark forms and fees (Intellectual Property Office) — dated 23 July 2026, read 24 October 2026
- IP Australia — How to apply for a trade mark — no date on the page, read 24 October 2026
- IP Australia — Trade mark costs — no date on the page, read 24 October 2026
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