USA

Trademark and Brand Protection in the United States: Classes and Costs 

Trademark registration in the United States is one of those things’ founders know they “should do,” but often push down on the todo list until a problem forces the issue. That works fine until someone starts using a confusingly similar name, or you are staring at a term sheet and an investor asks, “So, is your brand actually protected in the US?” 

This guide breaks down how to file trademark United States applications in a way that feels manageable: what protection a US mark really gives you, how United States trademark classes work, what the process looks like endtoend, and what to budget for United States trademark fees. 

Why is US Trademark Registration Worth Considering? 

You can build a brand just by using a name or logo in commerce, but relying on unregistered “common law” rights leaves a lot of gaps. A federal registration with the USPTO gives you: 

• A presumption that you own the mark nationwide for the goods/services listed 

• The ability to stop later users of confusingly similar marks more easily 

• A record in the public database that deters others from picking something close to your brand 

• A cleaner story for investors, acquirers, and licensees when they look at brand risk 

If you ever plan to expand, license, franchise, or exit, having a registered US mark moves you from “we think it’s protected” to “here is the registration number.” After company registration in US, registering a trademark is the second most important thing. 

The Basics: Who Handles Trademarks in the US and What Can You Register? 

In the US, trademarks are handled at the federal level by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registration is optional, but highly recommended if you care about the brand. 

Things you can typically protect as a trademark include: 

• Word marks (names, slogans, product lines) 

• Logos and design marks 

• Combinations of words and designs 

• In some cases, non‑traditional marks like sounds, colours, or trade dress, if they meet specific criteria 

What you cannot protect are generic terms (“COFFEE” for coffee), purely descriptive phrases with no acquired distinctiveness, or marks that are confusingly similar to earlier registrations for related goods and services. 

So the first mental shift is this: trademark registration in United States is about protecting how consumers identify the source of your products or services, not about “owning” a word in the abstract. 

Understanding United States Trademark Classes (Nice Classification) 

Every US trademark application has to say what goods and services the mark will cover. This is where United States trademark classes come in. 

The US uses the international Nice Classification system, which splits goods and services into 45 numbered classes: 

• Classes 1–34 cover physical goods (like chemicals, clothing, machinery, etc.) 

• Classes 35–45 cover services (like advertising, software as a service, legal services, education, and so on) 

A few practical points founders often miss: 

• You do not “own” a word or logo for all 45 classes automatically; you protect it in the classes you actually claim. 

• Filing in more classes means more United States TM fees, because fees are charged per class. 

• Choosing the wrong classes hurts in two ways: you can end up unprotected in the area where your business actually makes money, or you can burn cash paying for coverage in categories you never touch. 

Take a simple example. If you run a SaaS product, your brand might realistically sit in Class 9 for downloadable software, Class 42 for software provided as a service, and possibly Class 35 if you are also offering related business or marketing services. If you later start selling merch like branded hoodies, that is a different world altogether in Class 25 for clothing. Spending a bit of time up front mapping your real and near‑term offerings to the right classes makes your filing both cheaper and much more useful. 

How The Nice Classification Works in the US? 

The United States follows the international Nice Classification, which splits everything into 45 classes: 

• Classes 1–34 cover goods (physical products) 

• Classes 35–45 cover services 

A few concrete examples so it feels less theoretical: 

• Clothing and footwear live in Class 25 

• Software as a downloadable product can fall in Class 9 

• Software provided as a service (SaaS) is often in Class 42 

• Advertising and business services show up in Class 35 

• Education and training services sit in Class 41 

When you file trademark United States applications, you have to: 

• Pick the classes that match what you actually sell or plan to sell 

• Describe the goods or services within each class clearly enough for the USPTO to accept them 

You are not buying protection across all 45 classes. You only get coverage in the specific classes you list and pay for. 

Why Class Choice Matters Strategically? 

Your class strategy does three big things for you: 

• It defines where your exclusive rights sit. If you only file in software classes, you will not be covered in clothing or food unless you add those later. 

• It shapes how examiners look for conflicts. They compare your mark mainly against earlier marks in the same or related classes. 

• It directly drives cost. Each extra class means extra official fees and, usually, more attorney time if you are using counsel. 

A focused application that hits one or two well‑chosen classes is almost always better than an overstuffed list that tries to cover every possible future idea. 

United States TM Fees: How Classes Feed into Your Budget 

Official US trademark fees are charged per class. At a very high level, your cost structure looks like this: 

• Base filing fee per class when you first submit your application. 

• Additional per‑class fees later if you filed on an “intent to use” basis and then file your Statement of Use. 

• Per‑class fees are again at renewal and maintenance milestones over the life of the registration. 

So if you file one mark in three classes, you are paying three times the class fee at filing, and then three times again at each later maintenance step. If you file one mark in a single class, you are only paying for that one slice. 

In practical terms, that means: 

• If your core business is a SaaS platform, you might start with just the key software and service classes and add others (like merchandising) only when those revenue streams are real. 

• If you are launching a consumer brand where the same mark will appear on both products and related services, you budget up front for multiple classes rather than being surprised later. 

The nice thing about the class‑based system is that it is predictable. Once you know which Nice classes you truly need, you can get a very clear sense of both your upfront and lifetime United States TM fees, and you can phase filings so they match the actual growth of your brand instead of trying to “own everything” on day one. 

Step 1: Choose What You Want to Protect (And Check It Is Available) 

Before you rush to file trademark United States applications, you need clarity on the mark itself and whether anyone got there first. 

Define Your Mark Clearly 

Ask yourself: 

• Are you protecting the word alone (a word mark), or a logo, or both 

• If it is a logo, do you want to protect it in specific colours or in black‑and‑white form 

• Are you using the mark already, or is this an “intent to use” situation 

Word marks generally give broader coverage because they protect the word across fonts and styling. Logo marks protect the specific design you file. 

Run A Sensible Clearance Search 

Next, you look at availability. You can: 

• Search the USPTO’s public database for identical or similar marks in related classes 

• Pay a specialized search provider or work with an attorney for deeper checks that look at spelling variations, phonetically similar marks, and related goods/services. 

Clearance is not about inventing a word that has never appeared anywhere before. It is about checking whether anyone is already using something close to your mark in your corner of the market in a way that could realistically confuse customers. 

The goal is to get comfortable that your brand can sit in that space without stepping on an earlier owner’s toes. Once you have done enough searching and analysis that you are comfortable, there is room to move; that is the point where it makes sense to go ahead and file the application. 

Step 2: Decide How and Where You Will File trademark in US 

There are two main ways to file at the federal level: 

• Direct filing with the USPTO, usually online through its current online system (Trademark Center) 

• Madrid Protocol extension, if you already have a home‑country registration and want to extend protection into the U, S as one of several countries 

Most founders simply file directly with the USPTO. 

You also need to decide on the filing basis: 

• “Use in commerce” – you are already using the mark on the goods/services in interstate commerce (across state lines or with foreign trade) 

• “Intent to use” – you have a bona fide intention to use the mark, but have not yet started 

Use‑based applications can move faster to registration if everything else is clean. Intent‑to‑use filings let you reserve rights ahead of launch, but you must later prove actual use and pay additional fees for that step. 

Step 3: Prepare The Application (Classes, Description, Specimens) 

This is where United States trademark classes and United States TM fees really show up. 

Choose The Classes and Draft Your Goods/Services 

You need to: 

• Pick the right classes for your goods/services 

• Describe the goods/services in those classes clearly enough that the USPTO will accept them 

You can either select descriptions from the USPTO’s pre‑approved manual, which often makes examination smoother, or write custom descriptions if your business does not fit neatly in existing language. 

Being too broad can trigger objections; being too narrow can leave you under‑protected. Aim for “clear and accurate” over “everything we might someday do.” 

Gather Specimens (If Filing Based on Use) 

If you are filing on a use basis, you must submit specimens – real‑world examples showing how the mark appears in commerce: 

• For goods: labels, packaging, product photos, screenshots of e‑commerce listings showing the mark next to the product 

• For services: website screenshots showing the mark used to promote or offer services, marketing materials with the mark clearly tied to the services 

These specimens help the examiner confirm that you are actually using the mark in the way you claim. 

Step 4: Understand United States TM Fees (What You Actually Pay) 

United States TM fees have a few moving parts, and they change occasionally, but the basic structure is consistent: 

• You pay a filing fee per class of goods/services in your application. 

• Different application “types” or filing options come with slightly different fees and requirements. 

• If you file on an intent‑to‑use basis, you later pay additional fees when you file your Statement of Use or make extensions. 

So, for a simple example: if you file trademark United States applications for one brand name in two classes (say, software and advertising services), you will generally pay two class fees up front. If you filed as intent‑to‑use, you will then pay further fees per class when you later prove use. 

Attorney fees, if you use a lawyer, are on top of official USPTO fees. Some companies are happy to file on their own, especially if the brand and classes are straightforward. Others treat trademark work more like an insurance policy and bring in a specialist to lay out the application properly, avoid obvious traps, and make sure they are not paying for coverage they do not actually need. 

Whichever camp you fall into, the main budgeting point is the same: every extra US class pushes the official fees up. It is worth pausing before you file to decide which classes are genuinely essential right now and which ones can safely wait until the business actually moves into that space. 

Step 5: What Happens After You File (Examination, Office Actions, Opposition) 

Once you submit, you do not get a registration overnight. The process has several stages. 

Initial Review and Examination 

The USPTO will: 

• Check that you met the basic filing requirements (fees paid, forms complete) 

• Assign a serial number 

• Put the application in the queue for an examining attorney 

The examining attorney then looks at: 

• Formalities (clear identification of goods/services, correct classes, acceptable specimens) 

• Substantive issues (is the mark descriptive, generic, confusingly similar to earlier marks, or otherwise barred) 

If the examiner sees problems, they issue an Office Action, which is basically a letter explaining what they think is wrong and giving you a deadline (often a few months) to respond. 

Dealing With Office Actions 

Not every application gets an Office Action, but many do. Common issues include: 

• The goods/services description is too vague or too broad 

• The specimen does not actually show use as claimed 

• The mark is deemed descriptive or conflicts with a prior registration 

You can often fix formal issues by amending wording or submitting better specimens. Substantive refusals (for example, likelihood of confusion with an earlier mark) are more complex and may require legal argument or even accepting a narrower scope of protection. 

Ignoring an Office Action leads to abandonment of the application. So from a process point of view, you should budget both time and mental bandwidth for at least one round of back‑and‑forth. 

Publication And Opposition 

If the examiner is satisfied, the mark is approved for publication in the USPTO’s Official Gazette. This triggers: 

• A 30‑day opposition period during which third parties can oppose registration or ask for more time to oppose 

• If no one opposes or you successfully overcome any opposition, the application moves toward registration. 

• If you filed based on actual use in commerce, a successful opposition period usually leads straight to registration. If you filed on an intent‑to‑use basis, this is where the Statement of Use stage comes in. 

Step 6: Statement Of Use (For Intent‑To‑Use Applications) 

If you file on an intent‑to‑use basis, approval and publication are not the finish line. They just mean the USPTO likes your application in theory. To actually get the registration, you still have to prove that you are using the mark in real life. 

Here is what that looks like in practice: 

• First, you wait for a Notice of Allowance. That is the USPTO’s way of saying, “We are fine with this mark; now show us real use.” 

• After that, you file a Statement of Use (often called an SOU). In that filing, you show how the mark is actually being used in commerce for each class – with fresh specimens – and you pay an extra fee for every class you want to move forward. 

You only get a fixed window after the Notice of Allowance to submit your SOU. If you are not ready, you can ask for extensions, but there are limits on how many you can get, and each one costs more money. From a planning point of view, it is cheaper and cleaner if you line up your product or service launch, so you can file the SOU on time, rather than living off extensions. 

Once the SOU is accepted, the application finally converts into a registration, and at that point, you are allowed to use the ® symbol for that mark in connection with the goods and services covered. 

How Long Does Trademark Registration in the United States Usually Take? 

The timeline can vary, but a realistic range for a relatively smooth application is: 

• A few months from filing to the first examination 

• Additional months if there is an Office Action and a response 

• A 30‑day opposition period after publication 

• Extra time for Statement of Use filings in intent‑to‑use cases 

In practice, people often see 8–12 months from filing to registration when things go well, and 18–24 months is not unusual if there are delays, oppositions, or multiple extensions. 

For a brand you plan to build around, that is a strong argument for filing early, not waiting until a product is fully launched in the market. 

Maintaining Your US Trademark (And What Happens If You Do Nothing) 

Registration is not the end of the story. Trademark protection in the US can last indefinitely, but only if you maintain it. 

Typical maintenance events include: 

• Use and maintenance filings at set points after registration (for example, declarations that you are still using the mark and updated specimens) 

• Renewals every 10 years to keep the registration active 

If you do not file the required maintenance and renewal documents on time, the registration will be cancelled or expire, and you will lose the benefits of federal registration. You may still have some common law rights, but you will have given up the stronger position you worked to build. 

From a process standpoint, the same mindset you use for the United States annual company compliance applies here: put these dates on a compliance calendar and treat them as non‑negotiable. 

Cost‑Smart Strategies for Founders 

Given the way United States TM fees are structured, it helps to be strategic. 

A few practical approaches: 

• Start with your core mark and core classes. Protect the brand name or main logo in the one or two classes that map directly to your current flagship product or service. You can add more classes or related marks later as revenue grows. 

• Avoid “class creep.” It is tempting to file in a long list of classes “just in case,” but each class costs money now and can increase maintenance costs later. Better to expand coverage in stages as you actually enter new categories. 

• Use pre‑approved wording where it makes sense. Using descriptions that the USPTO already accepts can reduce the risk of objections and keep the process smoother. 

• Treat enforcement as part of the investment. Registration gives you a strong legal tool, but you still need to monitor for confusingly similar marks and take action, when necessary, even if that is just a well‑timed demand letter through counsel. 

The Bottom Line  

The big picture: trademark registration in the United States is not a checkbox for lawyers; it is a brand‑risk decision for the business. You are deciding how much you are willing to spend, and when, to stop someone else from building confusion around your name. If you think about it that way, the decisions about when to file, which United States trademark classes to cover, and how much to spend on United States trademark fees become much easier.  

You are not just buying a certificate; you are buying the ability to build your brand with more confidence that it is, in a meaningful way, yours. Seeking expert assistance in trademark registration in the US? At Enterslice, we help entrepreneurs protect their brands through our trademark registration services.  

Frequently Asked Questions About Trademark and Brand Protection in the United States