A business name only carries legal weight once trademark law backs it, since that registration is what stops a competitor from building a store around it. This guide walks through how to trademark a name in the US, and specifically how to trademark a business name.
Disclaimer
This article is educational content and does not substitute for advice from a licensed trademark attorney.
Key takeaways
- Trademark law protects brand identity, meaning your name, logo, and slogan as identifiers of your goods or services, not the creative works a copyright covers.
- The trademark application process runs through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where you submit your application, identify your goods and services, and pay a base filing fee of $350 per class.
- Trademark owners should search the USPTO database before they file, since applications get refused for names that are confusingly similar to an existing mark, not only identical ones.
- Registering a business name with your state or listing it on your website does not complete the trademark registration process. Only a federal filing grants nationwide rights.
- Merchants asking how to trademark a name and logo together can file a combined application or register the word mark and design mark separately, depending on how often the logo changes.
Trademark vs copyright vs registering a business name
Merchants often confuse three separate protections, and mixing them up leads to gaps in coverage.
What a trademark protects
A trademark protects brand identifiers used in commerce: the names, logos, and slogans that distinguish your goods or services from a competitor's. If customers can point to your mark and identify your business by it, that mark is doing the job of a trademark.
What a copyright protects
A copyright protects creative works such as writing, art, and music. It does not cover a business name, a logo, or a slogan, since none of those qualify as a creative work under copyright law. A business name needs trademark protection instead.
Why registering a business name with your state isn't the same as a trademark
State business name registration, including forming a limited liability company, confirms that no other business in that state uses the name. It does not grant nationwide exclusive rights, and it does not stop a business in another state from using the same name for similar goods or services. Only a federal trademark registration does that.
Trademark, copyright, and Print on Demand
A print-on-demand seller manages both protections at once, and each one covers a different asset:
- Trademark law protects the POD store name and any logo customers use to recognize the brand.
- Copyright protects the original artwork placed on a product, the design itself rather than the name printed alongside it.
Trademarking a store name confirms rights to the name. It does nothing to confirm the seller owns or has licensed the artwork uploaded for print, so a registered trademark and a cleared design remain two separate steps before a product goes live.
Before you file: Search for existing trademarks
Filing before searching is the single most common way merchants waste a filing fee.
Search the USPTO trademark database
Search the USPTO's trademark search tool before filing to check for identical and similar existing trademarks. An examining attorney runs this same search, so finding a conflict early saves the non-refundable filing fee.
Why "similar" matters as much as "identical"
Applications get refused for names that are confusingly similar, not only for exact matches. Similarity covers how a name sounds, what it means, and the overall commercial impression it creates.
Two names that look different on paper can still conflict if customers reasonably read them as coming from the same source.
How to trademark a name and business name: Step by step
The application process runs through the USPTO regardless of whether you are trademarking a name alone or a name plus a logo.
Step 1. Confirm your filing basis
Choose use in commerce if you are already selling under the name, or intent to use if you plan to sell under it soon. The filing basis determines which documents and fees apply later in the process.
Step 2. Identify the correct trademark class
Trademarks are registered per class of goods or services, not as blanket protection across every category. A clothing brand and a software brand with the same name can coexist if the goods and services fall into different classes and no consumer confusion is likely.
Step 3. File your application through the USPTO
File through Trademark Center, which replaced the old TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard options with a single application track on January 18, 2025, according to the USPTO. The application requires your name or mark, the identified goods and services, your filing basis, and the base fee.
Step 4. Respond to office actions
An office action is a letter from the examining attorney listing refusals or required corrections. You must respond within three months of the issue date, or the application is declared abandoned. A one-time three-month extension is available for a fee.
Step 5. Clear the publication and opposition period
Once approved, your trademark is published in the Trademark Official Gazette. Any party that believes it would be damaged by your registration has 30 days from publication to file an opposition or request more time to oppose, through the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
Step 6. Receive your registration certificate
If no opposition is filed and your application is based on use in commerce, the USPTO issues a registration certificate. If your application was based on intent to use, you instead receive a notice of allowance and then have six months to file a statement of use or request an extension, per the USPTO.
Step 7. Maintain your trademark
A federal trademark is not permanent without upkeep. You must file specific maintenance documents between the fifth and sixth year after registration, and again between the ninth and tenth year, then every 10 years after that.
Missing a deadline cancels or expires the registration, and reviving it means starting the entire process over.
How to trademark a logo and business name together
Merchants building a brand around both a name and a visual mark have two filing paths.
Word mark vs design mark: What's the difference
A word mark protects the name itself, in any font, color, or style. A design mark protects the specific visual logo as designed.
- A word mark keeps working through a logo redesign, since it covers the name itself, regardless of styling.
- A design mark tied to the old artwork does not automatically extend to a redesigned logo.
Should you file them separately or together?
Filing a combined name-and-logo mark in one application costs one filing fee per class, but it only protects that exact combination.
Filing the word mark and design mark separately costs two filing fees but gives you two assets: you can update your logo without losing protection on the name, and vice versa. Merchants planning a rebrand within a few years usually benefit from separate filings.
How much does it cost to trademark a name?
Government fees make up only part of the total cost.
USPTO filing fees
The USPTO retired the TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard tiers on January 18, 2025, and replaced them with one base application fee of $350 per class, according to the USPTO's official fee page. Additional per-class surcharges apply on top of that base fee: $100 for insufficient information, $200 for using a free-form description instead of the USPTO's ID Manual, and $200 for every extra 1,000 characters in that description.
Intent-to-use applicants also pay $150 per class to file a statement of use, or $125 per class for a six-month extension. Maintenance filings add further cost: a five-year declaration of use runs $325 per class, and a combined 10-year renewal with that declaration runs $650 per class.
Filing yourself vs hiring a trademark attorney
Filing yourself keeps costs to the USPTO fees above, roughly $350 to $1,050 per class through registration, depending on filing basis and surcharges. A trademark attorney adds a separate service fee on top of those government fees, typically covering the clearance search, application drafting, and office action responses.
That added cost buys judgment on class selection, identification wording, and how to respond if the examining attorney refuses the application, work that carries real risk if handled incorrectly on a self-filed application.
What happens if your application is refused or opposed
A refusal extends the timeline and often the total cost of registration.
Responding to an office action
Common refusal reasons include a likelihood of confusion with an existing trademark, a merely descriptive mark, or an incomplete identification of goods and services.
You or your attorney responds with legal argument, evidence, or an amended application within the three-month deadline. If the response does not overcome every objection, the examining attorney issues a final refusal.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is an administrative tribunal within the USPTO that hears two main types of cases: oppositions filed by third parties during the publication period, and appeals of a final refusal from an examining attorney.
A TTAB proceeding functions similarly to a federal court case, with evidence, briefs, and a decision, and pursuing one typically requires legal action through an attorney experienced in trademark trial and appeal board practice.
Do you need a trademark attorney?
The USPTO allows U.S.-based applicants to self-file and recommends hiring a trademark attorney to guide the process.
When self-filing works fine
A straightforward name, a clean search with no similar existing trademarks, and a single trademark class are the conditions where self-filing is often sufficient. The USPTO allows it, and many small business owners complete the process this way.
When to bring in an attorney
Bring in a trademark attorney when your search turns up similar names, when you need multiple classes, when you anticipate opposition from a competitor, or when you have already received an office action you are unsure how to answer.
Legal protection is only as strong as the application behind it, and an attorney reduces the odds of a refusal that could have been avoided.
Tip
If you are still deciding whether your product or design is even clear to sell, review what you can legally print and how to avoid copyright infringement in Print on Demand before you invest in registering a name around it.
FAQ
Conclusion
Learning how to trademark a name, or how to trademark a business name, comes down to the same USPTO process either way: search first, file accurately, and expect the process to take close to a year even without complications.
Merchants building a print-on-demand business around a specific brand name benefit most from starting that search before the name appears on a single product listing, not after.
