Do you have to pay to maintain a trademark [You Asked]

Last updated : Sept 8, 2022

Do trademarks have maintenance fees?

After your trademark registers, you will need to pay maintenance fees periodically to keep your registration alive. See our trademark fee information and the fee schedule for more detailed information.

How often do you have to pay for trademark?

Filing Declaration of Use and Application for Renewal every 10 years (Combined §8 declaration and §9 renewal): $525 per class (if filed before the grace period).

What is required to maintain a trademark?

Trademark maintenance involves actions that people or businesses take to keep trademarks they own valid. Trademark maintenance consists of five elements: renewal, cautionary notice, tax, affidavit of use, and proof of renewal of basic registration.

How much does it cost to protect a trademark?

What Does Trademarking a Name Cost? Filing a trademark for your business name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will cost between $225 and $600, plus legal fees. You can register with most states for $50-$150 if you don't want protection outside your state.

How long is a trademark good for?

A federal trademark lasts 10 years from the date of registration, with 10-year renewal terms. Between the fifth and sixth year after the registration date, the registrant must file an affidavit to state that the mark is still in use.

How long does trademark protection last?

The term of trademark registration can vary, but is usually ten years. It can be renewed indefinitely on payment of additional fees. Trademark rights are private rights and protection is enforced through court orders. What kinds of trademark can be registered?

Can you lose a trademark?

You can lose a trademark in a variety of ways. You can lose a mark through abandonment. A mark will be considered abandoned if you stop using it for three consecutive years and you have no intent to resume its use. You can also lose a mark through improper licensing or improper assignment.

What happens if you don't renew your trademark?

Effects of Failing to Renew: If you fail to renew your trademark during the periods set forth above the registration will be cancelled by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office stripping the trademark of the benefits afforded to federally registered trademarks in the United States.

Can you lose a trademark if you don't protect it?

If you don't enforce your trademark, you risk losing reputation, business, sales, customers, and more to the infringer. There's also a concept in trademark law called abandonment. Generally, if you don't use your mark for three years or more, it's considered abandoned.

Can I renew trademark myself?

Registered trademark holders or an agent authorized by such a holder to act on their behalf can file the renewal request. Individuals must take the help of professionals to file for renewal of a TM application to ensure the process occurs smoothly without any hiccups or delays.

What is trademark renewal?

The Office of the Registrar of Trademarks will send a notice six months prior to the proprietor informing about the deadline for renewal of the trademark. Upon non-renewal of the trademark within the stipulated time, the trademark will be removed from the Register of Trademarks.

Can you renew a trade mark?

Renewal of trade marks A trade mark is registered for 10 years from the date of registration, which in effect is the filing date. At the end of that period it can be renewed for a further period of ten years and so on indefinitely.

Do I have to trademark my logo?

To protect your logo, you need a trademark or service mark (trademarks are generally used for products, while service marks are usually applied to services). You should not copyright or patent a logo design.

How much is a trademark for a logo?

What Does it Cost to Trademark a Logo? The cost to trademark a logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is $275–$660 as of June 2020, plus legal fees. You can register a trademark with your state for $50-$150, but federal registration offers a great deal more legal protection.

How can I trademark my logo for free?

Can you trademark your logo for free? You can not register a trademark for free. However, what you can do is establish something known as a "common law trademark" for free. You can do this by simply opening for business.

What are the 3 types of trademarks?

What you'll learn: Arbitrary and Fanciful Trademarks. Suggestive Trademarks. Descriptive Trademarks.

What are the 4 types of trademarks?

• Generic. A generic term is a common description that does not receive trademark protection.
• Descriptive.
• Suggestive.
• Arbitrary or Fanciful.

Can I trademark a name already in use?

If you're wondering, "can you trademark something that already exists," the simple answer is "no." Generally speaking, if somebody has used a trademark before you, you can't register the trademark for yourself.

How hard is it to trademark a name?

Registering a trademark for a company name is pretty straightforward. Many businesses can file an application online in less than 90 minutes, without a lawyer's help. The simplest way to register is on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site, www.uspto.gov.

What is a trademark vs copyright?

Copyright protects original work, whereas a trademark protects items that distinguish or identify a particular business from another. Copyright is generated automatically upon the creation of original work, whereas a trademark is established through common use of a mark in the course of business.

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Write a comment

hi everyone i'm trademark attorney josh girvin and welcome to episode 16 of ask a trademark attorney in today's episode we're going to answer the question how much does it cost to maintain a trademark registration so once a trademark is issued it's not the end of the story you have periodic renewals that are due to maintain that registration the first renewal is due between the fifth and sixth year of registration so let's say your trademark registered on january 1st 2020 your first renewal would be due between january 1st 2025 and december 31st 2025 right before january 1st 2026 that first renewal typically you'll submit what's called a combined section 8 declaration of continued use and section 15 declaration of incontestability this means that you're required to show that you've been using the trademark consistently over the last five years in the marketplace the government fee for this filing is 325 dollars per class of goods or services it's highly recommended you hire a lawyer to handle a renewal because even though it may seem simple the uspto has instituted a new audit program that will audit trademark renewals randomly and if you incorrectly submit a renewal essentially claim that you're still selling goods that are listed in your application that you're not or other minor details your whole registration could be subject to cancellation so many lawyers will handle a trademark renewal for a thousand dollars or less our firm it's 650 however it can be a really good investment in maintaining your trademark registration now the next time you need to worry about maintaining your trademark is between the 9th and tenth year of ownership so again if you've registered your trademark on january 1st 2020 the second renewal is due between january 1st 2029 and december 31st 2029 right before january 1st 2030. this renewal cost a hundred dollars more per class than the first one it's 425 dollars per class typically legal fees are the same they're the same type of filing you have to make in that fifth to sixth year and between the ninth and tenth year after the first ten years the renewals are then due every 10 years thereafter if you have any further questions about your trademark please feel free to get in touch by going to gerbenlaw.com and click on the contact app this is trademark attorney josh gerbin i'll talk to you next time you

Thanks for your comment Ruben Denofrio, have a nice day.
- Jose Spine, Staff Member

hey this is elizabeth potts weinstein and today we're going to talk about how to maintain your trademark including the trademark renewal process timeline so in the united states if you apply for a trademark with the united states patent and trademark office it doesn't mean that you have that trademark forever if it's granted in the uspto you have to renew or maintain your trademark on a schedule and that schedule could go on forever in theory you have to keep maintaining it or the trademark disappears so in this video we're going to talk about what you need to do to maintain your trademark the stuff that you need to file and the timeline schedule so why do you need to maintain your trademark well as i said the obvious thing is that it will expire it will be deemed abandoned if you don't maintain it on a regular basis also there are certain things you can file specifically the section 15 declaration of incontestability that will help you if your trademark ever gets challenged if you already have your trademark and you want to know what's going on with your trademark has it already been deemed abandoned when your renewal stuff is all due then click on this link to watch a video where i talk about how to check your trademark status so what do you need to make these filings to renew your trademark well first you're going to need to prove up that you still use your trademark and that's going to be your specimen of use now if you aren't using your trademark right now but you're going to use it again later perhaps you stopped using your trademark because of a seasonal issue or because of the pandemic but you have every intention to get back to using it you can file you can file under excusable non-use but this is something that you're filing under penalty of perjury so you really do need to intend to use it again along with this specimen of your use you're also going to file a declaration that will just be part of the filing where you declare that you're still using it you've been continuing to use this this entire time and you're using in all the categories in which you filed of course there's going to be fees along with this filing like there are with most fees before the uspto what the fees are something you'll need to check when you're watching this video because those fees do change sometimes it will be something like 125 or 150 or 200 per class so if you filed for your trademark in multiple categories it's almost like those are different trademarks so you're going to have to pay those fees for every single category just like you did at the beginning this filing can be done online and some people will be able to do it themselves but for some of you you may want to go back to the attorney who helped you originally to get their assistance in doing the filing to make sure you got everything done right one thing to remember is the attorney or the service you use to help you do your original filing may not be the one to remind you that you need to do this you need to take that responsibility yourself because it's your trademark so make sure that you put these filing dates on your calendar and don't depend upon some service or some some lawyer to track that what's the timeline for renewing your trademark for all of the dates there's going to be multiple dates the first date will be the date that you can do this filing then there'll be a date it's the kind of actual deadline and then there'll be a late filing date so if you miss all the deadlines there's still a late filing date there'll be a lot of extra late fees for every single class in which you're renewing but it's still possible to do that renewal at that time the first time you need to maintain your trademark is between five and six years after the trademark issued and there you'll be filing a section eight declaration of your use the second time is at ten years so just five years later technically between nine and ten years and there you'll be filing the section eight again and then you'll also be filing the section nine application for renewal and then every nine to ten years after that you're gonna have that same section eight section nine over and over and over again theoretically forever at that five to six year mark you are also then eligible and you're continuing to be eligible in the future after that to file a section 15 declaration of incontestability what this means is that there's no adverse or pending legal litigation involving your trademark and that you're declaring that you're the only person who's using this in commerce if you can do that and you file that section 15 it's very helpful in the future if you ever have to go up in litigation against anyone to enforce your trademark because it takes away a lot of their legal arguments important aspect to remember is that you need to keep your contact information up to date with the united states patent and trademark office they do send reminders i wouldn't depend on it but they do send reminders but they're going to send it to the address and or email address that you have on file if you've changed your address if you change your phone number if you have a different mailing address you're not going to get any of those notifications and your trademark may be expired abandoned another aspect to remember is you need to have the correct ownership information on file before you can file any of this stuff so this tends to come up for businesses where they started out as a sole proprietorship or partnership and then they converted into an llc or corporation when you do that you need to transfer all of the assets including your trademarks into the new llc or corporation and you need to take that transfer document in this case for trademark as an assignment and file that with the uspto again this is attorney elizabeth potts weinstein if you have any questions or comments about this video about maintaining your trademark go ahead and ask them below and i'll try to point you in the right direction if you found this video helpful hit the thumbs up button and subscribe for more information about trademarks and other legal aspects for small business owners thanks a lot goodbye you

Thanks nyunyutb your participation is very much appreciated
- Jose Spine

About the author

Jose Spine

I've studied business economics at Minnesota State University, Mankato in Mankato and I am an expert in taxonomic classification. I usually feel enthralled. My previous job was chaplain (prison, military, hospital) I held this position for 2 years, I love talking about dog training and hacking. Huge fan of The Beatles I practice hacky sack and collect film posters.