The Cost Of A United States Trademark Registration

How a lot does it expense to receive a ?  Here is what you want to know about the expenses involved in registering a trademark in the U.S.

The ETEAS and ETEAS PLUS Systems

The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") charges either $275 or $325 per class of goods or services to file an application for a U.S. Trademark Registration.   No matter if the expense per class is $275 or $325 depends upon method the applicant uses at the USPTO.

The classic filing method, known as the TEAS technique, permits applicants to write their own identification of goods or recitation of services with which they wish their trademark to be registered.  For instance, Nike would seek registration for a trademark applying an identification of goods such as "athletic shoes" in International Class 25.  If Nike writes their own identification of goods using the TEAS system the expense is $325 per class of goods or services in which the application is filed.

We'll clarify beneath what "per class" indicates.

As an alternative to the traditional technique, in recent years the USPTO initiated a new technique recognized as the TEAS PLUS technique.  The TEAS PLUS system is designed to each reduce the price of the trademark process although speeding up the registration procedure.  In this regard, provided that applicants meet particular distinct criteria and use only identifications of goods or recitations of services from a pre-approved list the cost to register their marks is reduced from $325 to $275 per class of goods or services.

Accordingly, the base price to apply to register a trademark with the USPTO is either $325 or $275 depending upon which program is employed.

U.S. Filing Fees Are Per Class

Next, applicants need to realize that the USPTO's filing fees are per class.  U.S. Trademark Registrations are goods or services certain.  This means that when you seek a U.S. Trademark Registration you ought to specify the goods or services with which the trademark is, or will be, applied.

For instance, Nike undoubtedly owns registrations for NIKE in Class 25 for running shoes whereas McDonalds retains registrations in Class 42 or 43 for restaurants.

There are at the moment 45 classes of goods and services recognized by the USPTO.  Goods and services are defined into these 45 distinct classes to each produce certainty for the USPTO in regard to the goods or services for which specific Trademark Registrations will apply but also  to enable for greater uniformity among international trademark offices of different nations as the globe moves toward a unified global program of trademark protection.

As such, an application by a music band who also intends to sell CDs of their music would apply to register a mark in two classes:

Class 9:         Pre-recorded music CDs.

Class 41:       Live performances by a music band.

If they file working with the TEAS system, their total filing fees would be $650 (2 classes x $325 per class).  In the alternative, if they are in a position to use the TEAS PLUS program their filing fees would be reduced to $550 (2 classes x $275 per class).

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