In the United States, trademark rights begin with use, and the USPTO checks every application against earlier trademarks. Registration extends those rights nationwide. This guide shows the steps, the government fees, and the dates that keep a registration in force.
The USPTO compares every application with registered and pending trademarks. A search before filing covers the same register.
2
Our Experienced Attorneys File
Our experienced attorneys file your application with the USPTO, based on use in commerce or on intent to use. The government fee is USD 350 for each class of goods or services.
3
Examination and Publication
An examining attorney reviews the application and may send a letter called an office action, which has a three-month reply period. An approved trademark is published for a 30-day opposition period.
4
Registration and Proof of Use
With no opposition, a trademark already in use registers within about three months of publication. An intent-to-use application registers after the USPTO accepts a statement of use.
What is different here
Six Facts About Filing in the United States
Rights Begin With Use
You own a trademark from the day you use it, but only in the area where you trade. Registration creates rights across the United States and its territories, and the right to use the ® symbol.
The USPTO Checks Earlier Trademarks
The examining attorney searches registered and pending trademarks and refuses an application where confusion with a registered trademark is likely. The USPTO names this as the most common reason for refusal.
File Before You Launch
An intent-to-use application lets you file before you sell. After the notice of allowance you have six months to file a statement of use at USD 150 per class, or to request one of up to five six-month extensions at USD 125 per class.
Owners Abroad Need a United States Attorney
An owner domiciled outside the United States must appoint an attorney licensed in the United States. Our experienced attorneys file as your attorney of record.
Three Months to Answer the Examiner
A reply to an office action is due within three months of its date. One three-month extension is available for USD 125.
Proof of Use After Five Years
Between the fifth and sixth years after registration, the owner files a declaration of use at USD 325 per class. This use requirement returns with every 10-year renewal.
Timeline
What Happens, and When
The usual path, with no objection and no opposition.
Filing day
Application Filed
Our experienced attorneys file your application and the USPTO gives it a serial number.
About month 4
First Examination
The USPTO's average wait for the examining attorney's first action is 4.3 months.
About a month after approval
Publication
The trademark appears in the Trademark Official Gazette and the 30-day opposition period begins.
About 3 months after publication
Registration
With no opposition, a trademark that is already in use is registered.
Years 5 to 6, then every 10
Use and Renewal
A declaration of use is due between the fifth and sixth years, and a renewal with a new declaration of use every 10 years.
What it costs
Government Fees at the USPTO
Step
Government fee
Note
Application, one class
USD 350
Base application. Goods and services typed as free text add USD 200 per class.
Each further class
USD 350
The same fee for every class
Declaration of use, years 5 to 6
USD 325 per class
USD 100 more per class in the six-month grace period
Renewal, every 10 years
USD 650 per class
Renewal and declaration of use, filed together
Notice of opposition
USD 600 per class
Paid by the party that opposes
Record a new owner
USD 40
First trademark in a document; USD 25 for each further trademark
Source: USPTO fee schedule. Checked 4 October 2026. These are government fees only. Our professional fee and the bank fee (5%) are on the pricing page.
Questions
Questions About Filing in the United States
Yes. The approved trademark is published, and anyone who believes the registration would damage them has 30 days to oppose or to ask for more time. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, a tribunal inside the USPTO, decides the case. The Board sets 60 days for the owner's answer, and the opposing party pays USD 600 per class.
Yes. A registration in your home country can be the basis of a United States registration, and use in the United States is not required before registration. A home application filed in the last six months can also pass its filing date to the United States application, which is called priority. Use is shown later, in the declaration due between years 5 and 6.
Under United States law, three consecutive years without use count as evidence that a trademark is abandoned. Other parties can also ask the USPTO to remove goods or services that a registration was never used for, between three and ten years after registration. We advise keeping dated records of use for every item in the registration.
Yes. A United States application or registration can serve as the home trademark for an international application through WIPO's Madrid System (the Madrid Protocol), filed through the USPTO. File the international application within six months of the United States application and it can claim the same filing date.
