How To Get a Trademark: Registration Process and Benefits

Learn about the trademark registration process, types and benefits of trademarks, and how trademarks help protect your brand and intellectual property rights.

When you start a business or develop a product, it’s important to take steps to both differentiate your brand from others in the market and protect your intellectual property rights.

Establishing source identifiers like your business name and logo are a solid start to that process—but you may want to consider trademark protection as well. In this post, learn how and when to get a trademark for your business.

Plus, we’ll shed more light on the benefits of trademarks, including which parts of your business you can legally protect under trademark law.

Types of trademarks

A trademark is a type of source identifier that’s important to a business’s brand recognition. In other words, it’s a characteristic that consumers can point to as something unique to your brand. Examples of source identifiers may include a unique combination of letters, sounds, symbols, or designs. 

There are a couple types of trademarks your business can get: common law trademarks or registered trademarks.

Common law trademarks

You’ve probably noticed the symbol ™ beside a lot of brand names and logos. That ™ indicates an unregistered—also known as common law—trademark.

No official trademark registration process is necessary to establish a common law trademark. Instead, simply do business while using your business name or a logo, and that will automatically offer you some protections. Before you use this symbol, make sure that you’ve done your due diligence to ensure you’re not infringing on an existing trademark.

Your protections under common law trademark are much more limited compared to a registered trademark. Because protections aren’t as comprehensive under common law, you may want to only use this type of trademark if, say, you’ve recently launched your business or if it operates in a single geographic area where your market competition is slim. 

Later, as your business expands, you can officially register your trademark.

Registered trademark

Much like the ™ symbol beside common law trademarks, you’ll see the ® symbol beside officially registered trademarks.

A registered trademark offers full legal trademark infringement protections in the country where you register. For example, if a trademark copycat uses your logo for their own commercial purposes, your registered trademark gives you the right to take them to court.

To get those protections, you must register your trademark in every country where you operate. Once your trademark is registered in one country, it’s easier to use that proof of trademark to register in other countries where your business operates as well.

The benefits of trademarks for your business

There’s a lot you can do to proactively protect your intellectual property rights when you’re running a business. Trademarks are just one part of the overall picture. While they’re not a silver bullet—you should always be vigilant for trademark infringement—trademarks can offer a form of protection for the hard work you put into building a brand that stands out.

For example, a clothing retailer that prints a particular slogan or logo on their hoodies could register the phrase or image as a trademark. With that protection, any other business that copies their mark without permission can be sued for trademark infringement in federal court.

Because trademark protection prevents unauthorized users from capitalizing on your mark, that helps you build customer confidence in your brand. In that example, for instance, shoppers know they’re getting the authentic hoodie because the brand’s slogan and logo are trademarked—both are only approved for that business to use.

How to get a trademark in 3 steps

The exact steps of your trademark registration process will vary depending on which country you live in, but the tips below can help you begin. To get definitive answers to your trademark registration questions, it’s best to consult with a licensed trademark attorney.

1. Confirm the trademark is available

When you have a unique idea about a name for your brand or products, it’s a good time to see whether the idea has already been registered. You can do this as part of your competitive analysis. Look up your potential trademark using the official online databases that are maintained by the governments of each of the countries you do business in, starting in your home country.

Here’s a shortlist of databases to check:

• United States: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
• Canada: Canadian Trademarks Database
• Australia: Australian Trade Mark Search
• European Union: European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

When searching for your trademark term, use quotation marks to get an exact match. Also run a search for each of the terms within the phrase if there’s more than one. Using quotation marks in your searches will ensure you’re getting relevant results in your trademark search, so you’re not wading through largely unrelated terms.

If no one’s using your chosen term, phrase, or name, that’s a great indication that the trademark could be available.

Even if results do show up for your chosen trademark terms, that doesn’t mean they’re immediately off the table. In the US, a key part of maintaining trademarks is keeping them in use. So, if the trademark is not being used—even if it’s been registered—you might be able to challenge the registration with the appeal board and patent the name for your business with the help of a trademark attorney.

For example, someone may have registered an existing trademark but since gone out of business. Given that US trademarks are based on use, that could signal that the trademark has become available.

Go to the USPTO database to search for existing trademarks in the United States.

After you’ve searched through the databases, go to Google and run the exact same searches to see what pops up. Explore which marks from the databases also show up in your Google searches, with attention to how many sites show up for them and how active they appear to be. 

Finally, search social media to see if there’s any activity using the trademark you’re considering. Tools like Namechk can surface social profiles using your desired name. If you don’t find anything recent, that’s another promising sign.

Tools like Namechk can help you see if your chosen word or phrase is being used on social media or websites.

2. Officially register the trademark

Once you’re ready to officially register a trademark, consult with a licensed professional who can provide legal advice specific to your business. Consider working with them to perform a more thorough search of what else is out there before you invest the time and resources to apply for a trademark registration.

Only a licensed attorney would be able to definitively give you advice and tell you whether it’s worth pursuing trademark registration at this time. The entire process of registering your mark and obtaining a registration certificate (known as a Notice of Allowance) from a government patent attorney can be fairly technical and involved, so collaborating with or outsourcing to an expert is your best bet for a smooth trademark registration process.

Remember: The initial application process for registering a trademark will differ from country to country. Seek advice from a professional who understands the foreign registration requirements for your specific region.

3. Protect your trademark

Ensuring trademark protection means you’ll need to:

• Keep your trademarks in active use (i.e., operate your business with them).
• Take action when you encounter trademark infringement.
• Consistently use the appropriate trademark indicators: ™ for common law trademarks and ® for registered trademarks.

Protecting your trademarks goes further than marking them appropriately. You also need to watch out for people copying your trademarks or using a similar mark in your industry. 

In trademark law, failing to take action to protect your mark could eventually result in losing your trademark, because of a concept called dilution. Here’s an example of dilution: If someone comes out with a product or brand that uses one of your registered marks—or something similar and in your industry—speak with an attorney. More often than not, they can reach out to the offender and handle the situation on your behalf to protect your trademark.

Trademark costs explained

As of 2024, the USPTO lists its trademark registration fees for TEAS Plus as $250 and TEAS Standard as $350. TEAS stands for Trademark Electronic Application System. The Plus filing option has fewer requirements than the Standard option.

These filing fees apply for every trademark class of goods or services you plan to sell under. If you wanted to trademark your company name in the clothing class and also protect it from unauthorized use in the printing industry, for example, you’d need to pay the filing fee for both trademark classes ($500 to $700 total).

There may also be legal fees to consider, particularly if you’re hiring an attorney to assist with the trademark application process. These can range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. 

For businesses operating outside of the US, check the trademark office in your country for specific fee information.

Maintaining your trademark protection

Renewal requirements and timelines

In the US, trademarks have a 10-year expiration date. You’ll need to repeat the trademark registration process (and pay another trademark application fee to the USPTO) to keep your trademark beyond the 10-year anniversary of your initial filing. 

The USPTO also requires trademark owners to file a declaration of use. This is a sworn statement that says you’re still using the trademark during the fifth and sixth year of your trademark protection. Failing to do this carries a risk of the trademark being canceled before the 10-year renewal period arrives.

Updating your trademark registration

It’s not uncommon for businesses to change course over the 10-year duration of their trademarks. For example, a candle business might trademark a scent’s name. When it expands its product categories, the scent is now used to promote additional product lines, like essential oil diffusers and shower gels.

You must update your trademark registration when you make any amendments to how the mark is used. In the case of that candle company: They’d have to file a Section 7 Request to add extra goods and services to the registration. The original Class 4 mark (which covered candles) must now cover another trademark class: Class 3 (which covers essential oils and toiletries).

The same concept applies to products you no longer use the trademark for. If the company stopped selling candles and only used the trademarked scent name for toiletries, they’d need to file the Section 7 Request to maintain protection over their intellectual property (IP).

Importance of consistent use

Trademark law states that marks must be consistently used to maintain legal protection. Other businesses who want the trademark for themselves can legally challenge—and in some cases, obtain it—if they can prove to the trademark trial board that it’s not in use.

If you can’t start using your mark within six months of the trademark application being approved, you can apply for an extension request. This is a sworn statement that states you still intend to use the protected trademark in commerce, but you need extra time to use it—like if you’ve trademarked a product name that’s still in development, for example. 

It’s best to avoid this situation wherever possible. There’s an additional fee of $125 per class for each six-month extension request, which can quickly add up if you’re legally protecting the mark across multiple classes.

Consequences of failing to maintain your trademark

Losing your trademark happens when you can no longer claim the original mark, whether it’s your logo or your product names. If more businesses in the industry start using the same marks, it no longer identifies something that’s uniquely yours.

If that happens, you risk losing your mark by not taking action. After all the work and money that goes into getting a trademark, taking action against infringement is crucial to protect your mark and your investment.

Defending your trademark is something best left to the professionals, especially when it comes to contesting pending trademark applications. Focus on what you do well—running your business and creating great products—and let trusted trademark lawyers handle the details of protecting your marks.

How to get a trademark FAQ

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a source identifier. Any trait that differentiates a product or brand as from others in the market could be considered a source identifier. This can include a unique combination of letters, sounds, symbols, or designs that represent distinctiveness.

What is a registered trademark?

A registered trademark is a form of a trademark that indicates the trademark has been officially registered with a federal trademark office. Registered trademarks are often indicated with the ® trademark symbol.

Why are trademarks important?

It is important to protect yourself, your brand, your ideas, and your creations. These are the things that make your business or personal brand unique. Without protections like trademarks, anyone can copy or steal your work. Becoming an owner gives you exclusive rights to use the mark for a specific period of time. It also gives you legal grounds to take action if your intellectual property rights have been violated.

What is the difference between a copyright and a trademark?

Copyright and trademarks are similar in some ways. They are both forms of intellectual property, which can include tangible things like products or intangible assets like business ideas or processes. Copyright protection applies to creative works like art or books, while a trademark usually protects assets associated with a brand (trade name, logo, etc.). The requirements and federal registration process for each will differ.

How can I register a trademark?

Consult the trademark office in your country to determine the required documents and fees for starting the application process. It’s also best practice to consult with a lawyer who specializes in trademark law and is familiar with the federal trademark registration process in your country.

How long does trademark protection last?

In the US, a trademark is valid for 10 years, at which point you’ll need to submit another application to extend your legal protection. You must maintain protection of your trademark at all times. This means using it consistently and taking legal action against unauthorized use.

Can I trademark a name or phrase?

Yes, a trademark owner can protect names and phrases. Popular examples include business names, taglines, slogans, and product names.