How much does it cost to trademark a business name?
Understand the initial application price, what the package includes, and what can cost extra.
$999. That is the initial one-class application cost at MARQ, using the base government fee: a flat $649 attorney fee plus the USPTO’s $350 government filing fee, billed at cost with no markup. Each additional class of goods or services adds $350. Comprehensive clearance is included in the registration package; a standalone comprehensive search costs $249 and does not create a conversion credit. That $999 is for a mark you are already selling under — a use-in-commerce (1(a)) filing. If you have not launched yet, you file on intent to use (1(b)); the later Statement of Use costs $100 for MARQ to prepare and file plus $150 per class in USPTO fees, bringing a one-class matter to $1,249.
The full price list
| What | MARQ legal fee | USPTO fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY trademark search | $0 | — | Free |
| USPTO Federal Knockout Search | $79 | — | $79 |
| Comprehensive Attorney Clearance Search | $249 | — | $249 |
| Rush Comprehensive Clearance Search | $349 | — | $349 |
| Complete Trademark Registration | $649 | $350 per class | $999 (1 class, base fee) |
| Rush Trademark Registration | $999 | $350 per class | $1,349 (1 class, base fee) |
| Trademark Assignment Agreement | $249 | — | $249 |
| Trademark Licensing Agreement | $499 | — | $499 |
| Procedural Office Action Response | $499 | — | $499 |
| Substantive Office Action Response | Starting at $999 | — | Starting at $999 |
| Trademark Monitoring (annual, automated) | $149 / year | — | $149 / year |
| Trademark Monitoring with Attorney Review (annual) | $299 / year | — | $299 / year |
| Letter of Protest | $499 | $150 | $649 |
| Standard registration, 2 classes | $649 | $700 | $1,349 (base fees) |
| Standard registration, 3 classes | $649 | $1,050 | $1,699 (base fees) |
| Later Statement of Use, 1 class | $100 | $150 | $250 |
| 5 prepaid registrations (10% attorney-fee discount) | $2,920.50 | $350 per class, separate | $2,920.50 attorney fees only |
| 10 prepaid registrations (15% attorney-fee discount) | $5,516.50 | $350 per class, separate | $5,516.50 attorney fees only |
| 20 prepaid registrations (20% attorney-fee discount) | $10,384 | $350 per class, separate | $10,384 attorney fees only |
Standard comprehensive reports: $249, within 1 business day after completed intake. Rush: $349, within 2 business hours of purchase, Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm Central; complete intake promptly. Rush registration: filing within 1 business day once the application is ready and intake is complete; it does not include a separate client draft-review step.
The attorney fee is flat regardless of how many classes the application covers. The USPTO fee is per class, and it is passed through exactly as charged — we do not mark up government fees. These are initial application totals at the base fee, not a guaranteed total through registration. Intent-to-use matters may require a later $100 MARQ Statement of Use service fee plus $150 in USPTO fees per class. Surcharges, office actions, extensions, and maintenance can add costs.
What actually drives the cost up
1. Classes ($350 each)
The single biggest lever. A clothing brand that also sells bags needs two classes. A software company with a downloadable app and a hosted platform needs two. A restaurant that bottles its sauce needs two. Each one is another $350 to the USPTO — and each one you skip is a product line with no protection. This is the conversation worth having before you file, not after. See what each class covers →
2. USPTO surcharges you can avoid
The USPTO’s 2025 fee rule added surcharges on top of the $350 base fee, and every one of them is avoidable:
| Surcharge | Amount | How it is triggered |
|---|---|---|
| Insufficient information | $100 per class | Missing required information — domicile address, legal entity, a proper declaration, translations, consent for a name or likeness. |
| Free-form identification | $200 per class | Writing your own description of goods or services (or pasting one) instead of selecting entries from the USPTO’s ID Manual. |
| Excess characters | $200 per 1,000 characters | A free-form identification longer than 1,000 characters, per affected class. |
A DIY filer who writes their own goods description in two classes has quietly added $400 to the bill before anyone has looked at the mark. Drafting from the ID Manual is one of the unglamorous, concrete things an attorney-drafted application does for you.
3. Office actions
An office action is the USPTO writing back with a problem. Procedural ones (fix the identification, disclaim a descriptive word, send a better specimen) are usually straightforward. Substantive ones — a likelihood-of-confusion refusal under Section 2(d), a descriptiveness refusal under Section 2(e) — are legal arguments. MARQ charges $499 for procedural responses and starts at $999 for substantive responses. Nobody can promise you will not get one. What you can do is stop causing them: most trace back to the search, the class, the identification, or the specimen.
4. The mark that was never clearable
The most expensive trademark is the one that was doomed at the naming stage — too close to an existing registration, or too descriptive to register. You pay the $350, wait five months, get refused, and start over with a new name and a new fee, having built a brand on it in the meantime. A $249 comprehensive search is the cheapest insurance in this entire process, and it is the one step people skip.
5. Maintenance, later
Registration is not the end. A declaration of continued use is due between the fifth and sixth year, and renewals run every ten years, each with a USPTO fee. Docket them or lose the registration.
Why our number is smaller than the one you were quoted
Trademark pricing is opaque on purpose almost everywhere. Packages bundle the government fee into a headline number so you cannot see what the legal work costs. Add-ons appear at checkout. “Attorney review” turns out to be a tier you did not buy. Hourly firms will do excellent work and bill $1,500–$3,000 for the same application.
MARQ prices it flat: $649 for the attorney, $350 to the government, per class. The government fee goes to the government. A standard one-class application starts at $999 at the base government fee. Optional custom wording, later filings, office-action responses and other separately scoped work can add fees.
Start with what it costs you nothing to know
Run the free search on your name. If it looks viable, the $249 comprehensive attorney search tells you whether it will actually survive examination — before you spend $350 with the USPTO.
Run a free searchSee flat pricingFree DIY search · $249 comprehensive attorney search · $649 + USPTO fees to register
Trademark cost questions
How much does it cost to trademark a business name?
With MARQ: $999 for an initial one-class application at the base government fee — a flat $649 attorney fee plus the USPTO’s $350 government filing fee, billed at cost with no markup. Each additional class of goods or services adds $350 in USPTO fees, so two classes are $1,349 and three are $1,699. Comprehensive clearance is included in the registration package; a standalone comprehensive search costs $249 and does not create a conversion credit. That $999 assumes a use-in-commerce (1(a)) filing; if you file on intent to use (1(b)) because you have not launched yet, a later Statement of Use costs $100 for MARQ to prepare and file plus $150 per class in USPTO fees, for $1,249 total in one class.
What is the USPTO filing fee for a trademark?
The USPTO charges a base application fee of $350 per class of goods or services. Additional fees apply if the application is incomplete ($100 per class), if you write your own identification of goods in the free-form text box instead of using the USPTO’s ID Manual ($200 per class), or if that free-form identification runs past 1,000 characters ($200 per additional 1,000 characters).
Can I trademark a name for free?
No. The USPTO’s $350-per-class filing fee is a government fee and cannot be waived. What is free is finding out where you stand: MARQ’s DIY search of live federal records costs nothing and requires no account.
How much does a trademark attorney cost?
It varies enormously — hourly firms bill $300–$600 an hour and flat-fee practices range widely. MARQ charges a flat $649 for its registration package including comprehensive clearance and application preparation and filing, $249 for a standalone comprehensive search with a written opinion, and $499 (procedural) or starting at $999 (substantive) for an office-action response. USPTO fees are separate and passed through at cost.
Do you have to pay to renew a trademark?
Yes. A U.S. registration must be maintained: a declaration of use between the fifth and sixth year, and renewals every ten years, each with its own USPTO fee. A registration that is not maintained is cancelled, no matter how long you have used the mark.
What makes a trademark cost more?
Extra classes ($350 each), USPTO surcharges you can avoid ($100 for an incomplete application, $200 for a free-form identification), office actions, and a mark that was never clearable in the first place — which is the expensive one, because the money is spent before anyone tells you.
Fee and deadline figures on this page come from the USPTO: trademark fee information, additional fees for trademark applications, and the USPTO trademarks dashboard. This page is general information about U.S. trademark law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. No attorney can guarantee registration — the USPTO decides.