A lot of people wonder, how much does it cost to get a trademark? The answer is probably less than you think. When it comes to hiring an attorney, you normally thinking about shelling out thousands of dollars, mortgaging your house, selling your kids, whatever you got to do to kind of get things done. When it comes to hiring a trademark attorney, it’s a very different story. So, what are the actual costs?
First, you got to pay Uncle Sam, meaning the Trademark Office is actually run by the US government, and they charge you about $250 ballpark each time that you file for a new trademark application, for your name of your logo. You have to pay that fee each time that you file a trademark for a different class (or category) of goods or services. So, let’s say, I don’t know, you sell both laptops and coffee mugs – and what trademark protection for both goods. That would be two applications from the government’s perspective, and you have to pay the filing fee for both.
Second, you pay for attorney’s fees and costs, and attorneys can charge, I don’t know, whatever the heck that they want. There’s no real formula here, but ballpark, bottom line, you’re looking at about $1,000 to hire a trademark attorney to handle the whole trademark process from start to finish. That’s everything from meeting with you and learning about your business and your goals, doing what’s called a trademark clearance search where they can determine are there any other trademarks that are out there that are going to interfere with your trademark process or maybe who have trademark rights first, so that they can get you the right type advice as to how to move forward. That’s also going to include preparing, filing your application, and even negotiating with the government over what is about a year long process. So, about $1,000 to pay for a trademark lawyer, ballpark, maybe it’s more or less, plus your government’s filing fee of about $250. That’s really your ballpark cost for filing a trademark.
Now, I know that that’s not a small sum of money, but at the end of the day there is so much more money that is spent fighting over names when people don’t get trademarks than by taking a little bit of proactive approach in the beginning. For example, let’s say that you put this decision off. You went to file for a trademark, I don’t know, two, three, six months from now, and you find out someone else filed a trademark application for your name during that time period. Then what do you have to do? Likely panic first, then pick up the phone, and call a trademark lawyer.
Then, he or she has to file these legal proceedings to try to cancel their trademark (if, of course, you have the legal grounds to do so), and that could lead to a complex legal proceeding that is WAY more expensive than hiring an attorney in the beginning and paying some of those small government filing fees.
So, that’s the cost of a trademark. It’s really a small investment for really big rewards and to be able to stop other people from using your name or a similar name or logo in connection with your goods and services. We’d be happy to help file your trademark application. Just reach out to us using the contact form below.
Now, you might have some other questions about the trademark process, and we’re happy to give you all of those answers: Just visit TrademarkTuesdays.com, and you can download our free guide on how to protect and grow your business and your brand with trademarks. That’s TrademarkTuesdays.com. You’re going to find answers to your questions to just about everything about the trademark process. I hope the information helps you, and I hope one day you’ll get a trademark for your name and business logo.
