If you’ve reached the point where you know registering your trademark is the prudent thing to do for you or your business, your next most pressing question is what is the cost going to be? With all my clients, the short term concerns of paying the legal fees to get a US trademark registration may seem a bit overwhelming, but the ounce of cost upfront will save pounds of infringement fees later.
Trademark registration costs can basically be broken down into two major categories. 1) Filing Fees and 2) Attorneys Fee’s.
Filing Fees
The USPTO charges a filing fee for every trademark registration application filed with their office. The fee is charged on a “per class of goods/services” basis, meaning if your product is going to cross several industries or classes, then you’ll have to pay this filing fee for each trademark class you want the trademark in. The fee ranges between $225 per class and $275 per class. The $225 per class applies to TEAS Plus applications, while the $275 applies to TEAS Standard applications.
The difference between Plus and Standard is the ease of use to both the filer of the trademark and the USPTO. Plus applications will use goods and services identifications that are already in the goods and services ID manual and have been approved for use by the USPTO. Standard applications allow you to draft your own identifications. Which application to use will depend on your situation.
Attorney’s Fees
The fee an attorney in Idaho Falls will charge to obtain a trademark registration on your behalf will vary greatly depending on the attorney or service you use. Fees for attorneys range between $99 to several thousand dollars.
At Murray, Ziel, & Johnston we charge a simple flat fee of $950 per trademark, plus the filing fee. This fee includes:
- A comprehensive search to ensure the availability of your trademark
- An opinion letter outlining the results of this search
- The drafting and filing of your trademark application with the USPTO
- Any follow up responses required from the USPTO
- Verification of registration, and reminder of renewal filings needed
A Word of Warning
While it may seem financially prudent to use some of the lower cost services for the filing of your trademark, the reality is that most of our clients come to us after having several issues occur with these low cost services. Any amount charged less than $950 should provide you some cause to pause and consider whether the service you are paying for is legitimate. The cost of paying for a competent and experienced trademark attorney up front is well worth the headache and potential financial costs of dealing with infringement actions, or having to change the name of your business down the road.
