How to Trademark a Name: The 2026 Step-by-Step Guide

You want to protect a name. Here is the short version. There is no single global trademark, so you build protection country by country, sometimes regionally. Start where you sell. For most businesses that means one home country first, then more countries and regions as revenue justifies them. A United States application costs $350 per class in government fees, and you can check whether the name is free before you spend anything.

First: are you filing a name, a logo, or a slogan?

This is the decision that shapes everything downstream, and most people reach it after the money is already spent.

• A word mark protects the name itself, in any font, any color, any styling. It is the broadest and usually the most useful filing. If you can only afford one, file the name.
• A logo, or design mark, protects the specific visual: the words plus the lettering, the symbol, the layout. It is narrower. Change the logo in two years and the registration protects the old design, not the new one.
• A slogan can be registered if it works as a badge of origin rather than as ordinary advertising copy. Descriptive taglines get refused.

The practical answer for most brands: file the name as a word mark first. Add the logo as a second filing when the design is settled and the budget allows. If the logo carries a distinctive symbol that stands on its own, that symbol is worth its own application.

Two more calls to make before you file:

• Personal name or company name. File in the legal entity that owns the brand. Filing in a founder's personal name and later moving it to the company means an assignment, extra paperwork, and a chain of title to keep straight.
• How you use it. If you always show the name inside a lockup with a symbol, the word mark still protects the words. If nobody ever sees the words on their own, the logo filing matters more.

What makes a name registrable?

A trademark has to be capable of distinguishing your goods or services from everyone else's. That is the core rule across almost every system.

• Distinctive beats descriptive. Coined or suggestive names register more easily and defend more easily than descriptive or generic terms. "Blue Bottle" for coffee works. "Fresh Coffee" does not.
• Conflicts sink applications. If your name is close to an earlier trademark for related goods or services, expect a refusal or an opposition for likelihood of confusion.
• Use matters. Most offices will ask how you use, or intend to use, the name with specific goods or services.

The 7-Step Process

This sequence works whether you file nationally, regionally, or through WIPO's Madrid System (the Madrid Protocol).

1) Check the Name Before You Commit to It

Search for identical and confusingly similar trademarks in the same or related classes, and check domains and marketplaces while you are there. Run the name through our free trademark check first, then go deeper with the tools in Trademark Searches: Beyond Google.

Pick your Nice classes at the same time. Class choice drives both risk and cost, since every office charges per class. Pick the wrong class or write a vague description and you invite a refusal or end up with rights narrower than you think. Our Class Assist tool and Nice Classification: How to Choose the Right Trademark Classes walk through it.

2) Map the Countries and Regions You Need Now and Over the Next 18 to 24 Months

Trademark rights are territorial, so the protection plan should mirror the sales plan. List your current sales countries, your next wave, and any manufacturing or licensing hubs. Rank them by revenue and by counterfeiting risk.

• One or two countries: national filings are usually simpler.
• The European Union: a single EU trademark covers all member states in one filing.
• A spread of regions: WIPO's Madrid System can cover several countries and regions in one application, if you have a home trademark to build on.

3) Prepare the Data Once, File Many Times

Most offices ask for the same core information. Build one clean master file.

• Owner details. The legal name and address of the owner. Get this right or you create chain-of-title problems later.
• The trademark. Word mark in plain text, or an image if it is stylized. If both matter, that is two filings.
• Goods and services. Precise, plain-language items in the correct Nice classes. No marketing language.
• Priority claims. If you filed recently in one country, you may be able to claim that filing date in others within the Paris Convention window of six months.
• In the United States, you can file based on current use in commerce or on intent to use. Intent-to-use applications need acceptable proof of use before the registration issues, which our Statement of Use guide covers.

4) Choose the Route and File

• National or regional. File directly with the office: the USPTO for the United States, the EUIPO for the European Union, the UKIPO for the United Kingdom. Since 18 January 2025 the USPTO has had a single base application, so the old TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard choice no longer exists.
• WIPO's Madrid System. You cannot file with WIPO directly. You file through your home office, based on your home trademark, an application or registration you already have there. WIPO checks formalities, records the trademark, and publishes it, then notifies each country you chose to examine it under its own law. Our International Trademark Application via WIPO page sets out what you need.

5) Examination and Opposition

Every office examines on absolute grounds. Some, such as the USPTO, also refuse over earlier trademarks; the EUIPO and the UKIPO leave that to the earlier owner, who can oppose. Through WIPO, each country you chose examines under its own law within a set refusal period, commonly 12 or 18 months. If no refusal is notified in that period, protection applies there as if the trademark had been registered nationally.

Plan for questions. Most refusals are fixable if you answer on time. The common ones:

• Descriptiveness or genericness
• Likelihood of confusion with an earlier trademark
• Over-broad or unclear goods and services
• Formalities, such as an owner name mismatch or a missing translation

If a USPTO Office Action lands, Trademark Office Actions Explained takes it step by step.

6) Registration and Proof of Use

Once the application clears examination and the opposition period, it proceeds to registration. In the United States, an intent-to-use application needs acceptable specimens before a registration can issue, and there are further use filings later in the life of the registration.

7) Maintain, Renew, and Watch

A trademark is a long-term asset if you maintain and police it.

• Renewals. Registrations are renewable for further terms. A WIPO international registration runs 10 years and is renewed centrally with WIPO.
• Ownership records. Keep them current and record transfers where required. The USPTO charges $40 to record an assignment.
• Monitoring. Set up a watch and a takedown routine for marketplaces and domains. See Trademark Monitoring and Enforcement.

What does it cost and how long does it take?

Government fees are public and per class. These are the ones most of our clients ask about:

A few more USPTO numbers worth knowing, because they land after filing rather than at filing: a Statement of Use is $150 per class, an extension request is $125 per class, and the first maintenance filing under Section 8 is $325 per class.

On top of the government fee sits the legal work: clearing the name, drafting the goods and services, and answering the examiner. We quote that as a fixed professional fee before we file, so you see the Total first. Our pricing page has the current figures, and How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Name in 2026? breaks the cost down by route and class count.

On timing, plan in months rather than weeks. A United States application waits its turn for an examiner, then publishes for opposition before it can register, and an Office Action or an opposition adds to that. The USPTO publishes its current pendency figures and we check them when a launch depends on the date. Through WIPO, each country you chose has that fixed 12- or 18-month refusal window, so the outer limit is predictable even when the middle is not.

WIPO's fees themselves are a basic fee plus a fee for each country you choose, and several countries set their own individual fees that change from time to time. We price the exact combination for your country list rather than quoting a range.

WIPO's Madrid System or direct filing?

Use the WIPO route when you need several member countries and you have a home trademark to build on. It also makes it easier to add countries and regions later and to renew centrally.

File direct when you only need one or two countries, when a regional route like the European Union already covers the countries you need, or when a country you need is not a member of WIPO's Madrid System.

One judgment call we share with clients. If you plan an EU trademark plus several countries outside the European Union at once, the WIPO route is usually efficient. If the European Union is your only target, a direct filing at the EUIPO is simpler and often reaches a result sooner. To cover more countries in one filing, see our International Trademark Application via WIPO service.

Common Mistakes We Fix

The same ones, year after year.

• Descriptive naming. A name that describes the goods draws objections almost everywhere. Better to find that out at the naming stage than at the examination stage.
• Mis-scoped goods and services. Over-claiming invites conflicts and objections. Under-claiming leaves gaps. Draft to what you sell now and what you will sell soon.
• Copy-paste country lists. WIPO's Madrid System is a tool, not a strategy. Choose the countries and regions that match the launch plan.
• Owner errors. Filing in the wrong entity breaks the chain of title. Fix it before filing, not after.
• Proof-of-use blind spots. A United States intent-to-use application does not mature into a registration until acceptable specimens are in. Budget for that stage and document your use early.

Should you start in the United States or the European Union?

If your first launch is North America, the United States is usually the first filing, and it can serve as the home trademark for an international application later. If you will sell across the European Union within the year, a single EU trademark filing is more efficient than a set of national filings. For a side-by-side view, see US vs EU Trademark: Which Should Your Business File First?.

How We Help

We are an attorney-led firm, working since 2016, filing and managing trademarks in the countries and regions where you trade, through national, regional, and WIPO routes. Our experienced attorneys prepare your filing, draft the goods and services, and handle examiner questions, and you see the plan and the flat professional fee before we file. Start with a United States trademark filing or tell us your country list and we will map the order.

Related Reading

• How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Name in 2026? A Complete Breakdown
• Nice Classification: How to Choose the Right Trademark Classes
• US Statement of Use: Deadlines, Proof That Passes and What Gets Refused