What Will a Federal Trademark Cost, From Filing to Its 10-Year Renewal?

Our main copyright and trademark law page covers why federal registration is worth having; this page adds up what the government charges for it. Every figure below is a USPTO fee for an electronic filing, from the USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025 and last revised August 14, 2026, and from the fee rule itself, 37 CFR 2.6. Attorney fees, search reports and other professional costs are not included; they vary and are billed separately. Whether to file yourself, through a service or with an attorney is covered on our page about filing services and trademark attorneys. For shorter answers to common filing questions, see our trademark registration FAQ.

How Trademark Costs Build Up, Step by Step

1. You apply. $350 per class for a base application, plus any surcharges for a missing item or free-form wording (37 CFR 2.6(a)(1)).
2. If you filed on intent to use, you later prove use with a statement of use, $150 per class, and pay $125 per class for each six-month extension you need first.
3. If the examiner raises an issue, answering on time carries no listed fee, but a three-month extension to respond costs $125.
4. The mark registers. The certificate's registration date starts every later deadline.
5. Between years five and six, you file a Section 8 declaration of use, $325 per class, optionally combined with a Section 15 declaration for $575 per class.
6. In the year before year ten, you file the combined Section 8 declaration and Section 9 renewal, $650 per class, and repeat that every ten years.

What Does the Application Itself Cost?

The base fee is $350 per class for an electronic application (37 CFR 2.6(a)(1)(iii)). "Per class" is the part to watch. A multiple-class application must pay the filing fee for each class (37 CFR 2.86(a)(2)), so a brand that sells clothing and also runs an online store can be filing in two classes at once. Our page on trademark classes for merchandise explains how goods are sorted into classes. For choosing the classes themselves, see how many trademark classes you need.

The base fee applies only if the application is complete. Under 37 CFR 2.22, three surcharges can attach:

• $100 per class if any required item is missing, such as the applicant's domicile address, legal entity, citizenship or place of organization, a proper filing basis, the verified statement, or a translation of non-English wording (37 CFR 2.22(b)).
• $200 per class if you describe the goods or services in the free-form text box instead of choosing entries from the USPTO's Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual (37 CFR 2.22(c)).
• $200 more per class for each additional 1,000 characters of free-form description beyond the first 1,000 (37 CFR 2.22(d)).

Paper is not a cheaper route. The USPTO says paper filings are no longer accepted except in very limited circumstances, and a paper application costs $850 per class.

What Does an Intent-to-Use Filing Add?

An applicant that has not started using the mark can file on a bona fide intention to use it (15 U.S.C. 1051(b)). Our page on filing as in use or intent to use explains when each basis fits. Registration then waits for proof of use. If the mark is approved, the USPTO issues a notice of allowance, and the statement of use is due within six months of it (37 CFR 2.88(a)), at $150 per class. Filing the same proof before approval, as an amendment to allege use, costs the same.

If you are not ready, you can buy time in six-month blocks at $125 per class each. The first extension is granted on request; up to four more need a showing of good cause, and the total cannot run past 36 months from the notice of allowance (37 CFR 2.89; 15 U.S.C. 1051(d)(2)). Using all five extensions adds $625 per class. Our page on how long registration takes shows how those stages add up in time. The proof of use must also be acceptable; our page on what happens when a specimen is refused covers that step. If the business might be sold before the mark is in use, read our page on selling an intent-to-use application first.

What Can Office Actions and Missed Deadlines Cost?

The fee schedule lists no charge for a timely response to an examiner's office action. For an application filed directly with the USPTO, a three-month extension to respond, up to six months from the office action, costs $125 (37 CFR 2.62(a)(2)). Miss the deadline and the application is abandoned (37 CFR 2.65(a)); a petition to revive costs $250, and our page on what to do after a missed office action deadline explains the time limits. Appealing a final refusal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board costs $225 per class to file the appeal and $200 per class for the appeal brief.

The larger cost is often time and the filing date. If an application is abandoned for good, starting over means a new $350 per class and a later filing date.

What Does It Cost to Keep the Registration Alive?

A registration lasts ten years, but the USPTO cancels it unless the owner files a declaration of use in the year before the sixth anniversary and in the year before each tenth anniversary (15 U.S.C. 1058(a)). Renewal under Section 9 is due in the same window before each ten-year mark (15 U.S.C. 1059(a)). The USPTO's fees for those filings:

• Years five to six: Section 8 declaration, $325 per class. If the mark has been in continuous use for five years after registration, you can combine it with the optional Section 15 declaration of incontestability for $575 per class.
• Years nine to ten: combined Section 8 declaration and Section 9 renewal, $650 per class.
• Every ten years after that: the same combined filing, $650 per class.

Each window has a six-month grace period, at an extra $100 per class for each filing (15 U.S.C. 1058(a)(3); 37 CFR 2.160(a)(3)). A combined Section 8 and Section 9 filing in the grace period costs $850 per class. After the grace period, the USPTO says the registration is canceled or expires and cannot be reinstated; the only option is a new application. Our page on trademark maintenance deadlines and fees covers each filing in detail.

Accuracy has a price too. Deleting goods or services you no longer use before you file a Section 8 declaration is free, but deleting them after filing and before acceptance costs $250 per class.

How Do Georgia and Federal Costs Compare?

A Georgia state registration is far cheaper on paper. The Georgia Secretary of State charges a non-refundable $15 examination fee for each application, and each application covers one class (Georgia Secretary of State). The mark must already be in use in Georgia, and a registration is effective for ten years and may be renewed. The state office does not search federal or other states' records.

The price difference reflects a difference in what you get. Federal registration is examined against the federal register, and once the mark registers, the filing date counts as nationwide constructive use of the mark (15 U.S.C. 1057(c)). Our page comparing common law, Georgia and federal trademark protection explains what each one does.

What If You Need Protection Outside the United States?

A U.S. application or registration can be the base for an international application under the Madrid Protocol. The USPTO charges $100 per class to certify an international application based on a single U.S. application or registration, and the international fees are paid through the USPTO to the World Intellectual Property Organization, which publishes a fee calculator. Those amounts depend on the countries you choose. Our page on protecting a U.S. trademark in other countries explains the route.

What Changes the Answer

• The number of classes. Nearly every fee is charged per class (37 CFR 2.86(a)(2)), so classes multiply the whole ten-year cost.
• A word mark and a logo. A name and a logo filed as separate applications each pay their own per-class fees; our page on protecting a logo with a trademark, a copyright, or both explains when both filings are worth it.
• The filing basis. Intent-to-use filings add $150 per class for the statement of use and $125 per class for each extension (37 CFR 2.6(a)(3), (4)).
• How the goods are described. ID Manual entries avoid the $200 free-form surcharge and the character surcharges (37 CFR 2.22(c), (d)).
• Optional filings. A Section 15 declaration adds $250 per class; it is not required to keep the registration.
• A Madrid-based U.S. registration. Those registrations file Section 71 declarations, also $325 per class, rather than Section 8 declarations.
• Fee changes. The USPTO revises its schedule; check the current schedule on the day you file.

A Worked Example

Common Mistakes That Raise the Cost

• Picking the wrong class or too many. Every class carries a fee at filing and at each maintenance filing.
• Vague or custom descriptions. Free-form wording costs $200 per class, plus $200 per extra 1,000 characters (37 CFR 2.22(c), (d)).
• Filing without a search. The USPTO says a clearance search can help you avoid a likelihood of confusion refusal, an opposition or cancellation, or an infringement lawsuit, issues it calls costly and time-consuming. Our page on how to search before filing shows what that search covers.
• Missing a deadline. A petition to revive costs $250, a grace-period filing adds $100 per class, and a registration lost after the grace period cannot be reinstated.
• Paying a notice that is not from the USPTO. Official USPTO email comes from addresses ending in @uspto.gov; our page on how to spot a fake USPTO notice lists the warning signs.
• Budgeting only for the filing fee. In the simplest one-class case, the filing fee is about a quarter of the ten-year government cost.
• Keeping goods you no longer sell on the registration. Deleting them after you file a Section 8 declaration costs $250 per class.

What to Do This Week

1. List every product and service the mark will appear on, and sort them into classes.
2. Find matching entries in the USPTO's ID Manual for each item.
3. Decide whether you are filing on actual use or on intent to use.
4. Run a federal search, and search the internet for unregistered use, before paying anything.
5. Build a ten-year budget: filing, any statement of use and extensions, the year-five filing and the year-ten renewal, per class.
6. Put the fifth, sixth, ninth and tenth anniversaries of any registration you own on a calendar now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do You Pay Per Application or Per Class?

Per class. A multiple-class application must include the filing fee for each class (37 CFR 2.86(a)(2)), and the maintenance and renewal fees are also charged per class.

Is the Section 15 Declaration Required?

No. The USPTO lists it as an optional filing, available once the mark has five years of continuous use after registration. It costs $250 per class, or $575 per class combined with the Section 8 declaration.

What If You Stop Using the Mark for Some Goods?

Delete them. Between required filings, a Section 7 request that only deletes goods, services or classes carries no fee. Waiting until after you file a Section 8 declaration costs $250 per class.

Does a Refusal Mean Paying Again?

Not if you can overcome it in the same application. If the application is abandoned for good and you refile, the new application costs $350 per class again and gets a new filing date.

How Does This Compare With Copyright Registration Costs?

Copyright registration has its own, separate fee schedule at the Copyright Office. Our page on copyright registration cost and processing time covers those fees.

Are There Fees for Responding to a Post-Registration Problem?

A deficient Section 8 or Section 9 filing can be corrected with a $100 deficiency fee. The USPTO also audits some Section 8 filings, and an owner that cannot prove use for listed goods must delete them and pay a fee for each class with deletions.

Zala IP Law prepares federal trademark applications and maintenance filings for clients across the United States and internationally. If you are planning a filing and want the classes and descriptions right the first time, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701, and bring a list of what you sell or plan to sell under the mark.