King Patent and Business Law, PLLC

Protecting your ideas, your brand, and your business
Protecting your ideas, your brand, and your business

Trademark Registration

Why Apply for Trademark Registration?

Certainty

Getting your business registered as a corporation or LLC with the Secretary of State isn’t enough to protect the name. It's not even enough to make sure you are free to use it and aren't infringing!

Savings

Registration can help you make sure you are never forced to spend a fortune rebranding because you’re infringing on someone else’s trademarks.

Ability to Sue

Registration allows you to sue if someone infringes your trademark.

How We Work for You

You can focus on the rest of your business if you have trademark registration in the “someone else has my back and is doing the work for me” column.

We create a trademark/brand protection strategy that works for you.

We draft the application to give you the maximum trademark protection available.

We do a thorough search to make sure we don’t file an application that is a waste of your time and money.

We look out for possible infringement by others once your application is filed.

We advise you on how to maintain your trademark rights.

  • Initial strategy session
  • Explanation of the trademark application and registration process
  • Advice regarding applicable classes of goods and services – the different categories the USPTO assigns to each kind of product or service
  • Advice regarding plain text, stylized text, and/or image registration
  • Preliminary “knockout” search for identical or near-identical marks already in use by others and analysis of findings for all versions of the mark you would like to file, including plain text, stylized text, and logos
  • Advice regarding whether there are any clear issues that may impede or prevent registration
  • Some revisions and searches for those revisions are included

One of the most important parts of filing a trademark application, because it lets you know if there will likely be any problems with getting the application registered so you can take action to make changes to improve the application’s chances of registration.

Trademarks are taking roughly 10 months to be examined once filed, so if you file without a thorough search and analysis, it could be nearly a year before you know whether you have a serious branding issue.

  • Comprehensive search of federal trademark databases, common use in business, and use on the web, including social media
  • Analysis of search results and opinion letter or phone/video meeting regarding any results that may prevent approval or pose obstacles to registration
  • Development of application language regarding descriptions of goods/services to maximize protection and flexibility and minimize potential problems
  • Assistance with compiling appropriate of examples of use of the mark to show use in commerce
  • Completion and submission of the application
  • Monthly status reports
  • Monitoring of the application as it goes through USPTO examination
  • Basic communication with the USPTO Examiner
  • Responses to administrative refusals (Office Actions) by the USPTO requiring only minor changes
  • Responses to substantive refusals (Office Actions) by the USPTO requiring written arguments. Additional fees apply.
  • Monitoring for potentially infringing new federal US applications by others
  • Submission of a Statement of Use if the application was filed as an intent-to-use application rather than an in-use application
  • Submission of requests for 6-month extensions of the period in which to file a Statement of Use

This is where we differ most from many firms. We believe pending-application and post-registration trademark use support is essential to maintaining the rights granted by registration.

Our service doesn’t go dormant between application and registration or end with registration.

We work with you to ensure you keep your rights through proper use of your mark, proper maintenance, and proper enforcement.

  • “Taking Care of Your Trademark” booklet about proper use of your mark to maintain your rights
  • Monitoring for potentially infringing new federal US applications by others during pendency of the application​

Additional support during pendency of your application and after registration is offered separately so we can tailor a plan to your unique needs. Please see below for our subscription support services.

What Will It Cost?

We work using flat rates. You will know up front what the total cost will be for the services most appropriate for you, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Common fees are listed below. Additional attorney and USPTO filing fees may apply to these listed fees. The fees listed here are starting points. Fees ultimately depend on the complexity of the work required.

A “class” of goods/services is a grouping of similar goods/services by the USPTO. Goods/services fall into one of 45 classes. If you offer a variety of goods/services, you may need to file in more than one class.

Typical cost for one mark in one class of goods/services: $3,600

Includes:

  • Assessment and Strategy ($450)
  • Comprehensive Search and Analysis ($1600)
  • Development and Filing of the Application ($1200)
  • One year of Post-Registration Monitoring Support ($0)
  • USPTO filing fee ($350)

Please see our downloadable fee schedule for a detailed breakdown of costs and what’s included. 

While we strongly encourage the comprehensive search, we do not require it.

This trademark fee schedule also includes information about fees for multiple marks, multiple classes, and more.

More Information About Trademark Registration

Additional Pending and Post-Registration Support

Registration is just the beginning of brand protection through trademarks. You must take action to maintain and enforce the rights registration provides. This is incredibly important, so we include some post-registration support in our 5-Step services.

Build your tailored monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription including:

  • Monitoring of potentially infringing use by others
  • Review of your use of your mark to ensure compliance and ease of renewal
  • Online courses about trademarks and other intellectual property
  • Strategy calls

Learn More

We can file your federal and/or state (IL and GA) applications.

We also help with responses to refusals (Office Action) and appeals of final rejections,

We perform searches and analyze the results to spot issues that may prevent or cause other problems for registration and advise you about your options to address them.

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We review how you use your mark after registration to ensure your use helps retain your full rights and makes renewal easy (you have to show proper use at renewal).

Yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly service is available.

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We perform and analyze monthly searches of new federal registration filings to see whether anyone is attempting to register a mark that is possibly infringing on yours.

To see whether there may be other infringing use of marks, searches of social media, domains, and internet use are also available.

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We assist with filing maintenance and renewal paperwork for both federal and state (IL and GA) registrations.

This includes assistance with gathering specimens to show ongoing proper use of the mark.

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We draft and review licensing agreements to permit others to use your marks in exchange for a fee or to allow you to use others’ marks in exchange for a fee.

We also draft and file assignments and transfers of rights to others, for single marks, a portfolio of marks, or as part of the purchase or sale of a business

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We can send and help you respond to cease-and-desist letters.

We can also assist you with cancellations, oppositions, etc.

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