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By Alex Diaz · How we calculate this
Filing straight through the USPTO's TEAS system runs $250 to $350 per class of goods or services, and most small businesses only ever need to register one or two classes. It's a one-time cost, so the calculator measures what you enter against roughly three months of your budget instead of a single paycheck.
These key factors affect trademark affordability
USPTO filing fees by class
The USPTO charges $250 or $350 per class depending on whether you file under TEAS Plus (cheaper, but requires picking your goods and services from a preset list) or TEAS Standard, which lets you write a custom description at a higher price. Most small businesses register just one or two classes, so a clean, self-filed application often lands well under $1,000 total.
Attorney fees for search and filing
A trademark attorney typically adds $600 to $2,000 on top of the government fee to run a proper clearance search and prepare the filing. That search is the part worth paying for: catching a conflicting mark before you file is a lot cheaper than discovering one after you've built a brand around it.
Office actions and opposition add cost
Office actions are routine, not exceptional - examiners issue them for reasons as minor as a description that's too broad, and as serious as a conflict with an existing mark. Descriptive marks and anything close to a registered name get flagged especially often. Responding can tack on another $500 to $3,000 in attorney time, and a formal opposition from a third party during the publication period pushes costs and timelines further out still.
How to use your results
- If $1,500 feels high, check whether a self-filed application through the USPTO's TEAS Plus system for a single class of goods would meet your needs at a lower cost.
- Weigh this as a one-time cost against your startup budget rather than ongoing income, since a trademark is a single filing rather than a recurring expense.
- Keep some reserve in case the USPTO issues an office action, which is common and can add legal fees before the mark is registered.
Ways to make a trademark more affordable
- File the application yourself through the USPTO's TEAS Plus system if your mark is straightforward, which cuts out attorney fees entirely.
- Limit your application to the one or two classes of goods or services you actually need rather than paying for broader coverage you won't use.
- Run your own clearance search using the USPTO's trademark database before hiring an attorney, which can reduce the scope of paid search work.
- Register your business name as a trademark only once you're committed to the brand, since abandoning or rebranding after filing wastes the fee.
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