File a trademark - Free trademark search
File a trademark - Free trademark search
If you can't find the answer you're looking for, just email us. We are always happy to help.
We search and file your trademarks - quickly, simply and inexpensively.
We do everything for you. It's as simple as that.
You just tell us what trademark you want and we do everything else - so there is no need to stress.
We are highly qualified and licensed US attorneys, based in the USA and are part of the long-established intellectual property law firm of Bell & Associates in San Francisco.
Highly experienced and licensed US attorneys and trademark paralegals based in the US handle all trademark matters. We do not use poorly-skilled contractors or foreign clerical staff who do not understand the trademark process (unlike many of our competitors). We do not use robots or automated systems (like many others do). We are part of the long-established IP law firm of Bell & Associates in San Francisco https://www.bell-iplaw.com/ with real attorneys here to protect your legal interests. You can email us at tm@bell-iplaw.com. We are here to help.
NOTE: You MUST work with a licensed US attorney or you risk sub-standard work and your trademark rights are in jeopardy. USPTO rules require that any person filing and registering trademarks for others must be a U.S.-licensed attorney. U.S.-licensed attorneys must comply with their state’s and the USPTO’s ethics laws. The USPTO advises that you should ask for the attorney’s bar license number and check it with their state bar online to ensure they’re properly licensed. See https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/protect/filing-firms
There are a lot of scams out there. Don't be a victim. Be careful!
If you file a trademark with a fraudster operating from a foreign county, you will loose your money and have no legal recourse. This could cost you a lot more than the fee you paid! You should only work with a registered US attorney based in the USA and licensed to practice in at least one US state. Check this is the case, get their bar number, and make sure you communicate with them directly - it is your right! Of course our attorneys meet these standards.
The text below is paraphrased from the USPTO website - Click on this USPTO link to read it in full:
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/protect/filing-firms
USPTO rules require that any person or company offering to provide filing and registration services for others must be a U.S.-licensed attorney. U.S.-licensed attorneys must comply with their state’s and the USPTO’s ethics laws.
Ask for the attorney’s bar license number and check it with their state bar online to ensure they’re properly licensed. Among other requirements, the attorney must:
Some filing firms are violating our laws when their non-attorney employees engage in the unauthorized practice of law. We may investigate a filing firm if we discover a trademark filing that includes: Impermissible signatures, False addresses, Suspicious digital specimens, AND Other indicators of fraudulent activity.
Some filing firms intentionally mislead customers and commit fraud.
WATCH OUT FOR THESE FALSE CLAIMS:
“While we don’t have any attorneys on staff, we have agents/specialists who can provide legal advice and represent you at the USPTO.”
Only U.S.-licensed attorneys can give legal advice or represent you at the USPTO; agents and specialists aren’t U.S.-licensed attorneys.
“You won’t own the rights to your trademark unless we file an application for you with the USPTO.”
This is not true. While there are benefits to federal trademark registration, there is no requirement that you register your trademark.
“We’re approved by the USPTO and work in partnership with them, so we can expedite examination of your trademark application.”
The USPTO doesn’t work with or endorse any private filing firms.
“You must pay an invoice from the USPTO or immediately pay a renewal fee to avoid cancellation.”
The USPTO does not issue invoices and will never ask you for your credit card number in general correspondence or over the phone. We do not call, mail, or email registrants and demand renewals or payment of fees.
[The above text was copied from https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/protect/filing-firms]
US TRADEMARK APPLICATION
$450 professional fee
$250 US Patent & Trademark office filing fee*
Total cost = $700
This is all that you will pay to have your trademark filed. There will never be any 'added extras' or surprise fees from us.
*$250 is the standard US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) fee for filing in one class of goods/services. This is usually what you need. If you really need an additional class, then it costs an extra $250 in USPTO fees (no additional fees from us).
The $250 USPTO fee is for filing using "TEAS-plus" where you pick a class description from an approved list. https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/apply/form-teas-plus-application-trademark-or-service-mark .This works for almost all filings. If you really can't find what you are looking for and need to create your own description, then you can use "TEAS-standard", but you pay $350 per class. But one class is usually all you need.
You can search for pre-approved descriptions of goods or services in the USPTO's ID Manual.
We do everything for you. It's as simple as that!
It's quick and simple - just 3 little steps:
Our free search is a "knock-out" search, not an in-depth search, and it attempts to find marks that will make it impossible for you to register your mark. We use the United States Patent & Trademark Office search portal to look for trademarks and trademark applications that are spelled the same as your proposed mark. See https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search. We also do a general internet search. We look at the field of goods and services also, to determine if they are similar or different from yours. We don't look for variations of spellings, homonyms or foreign language translations. We then report our findings to you and we tell you what we think is the percentage chance of registration on the principal or supplementary register, e.g., "Your proposed word mark "has a 75% probability of registration on the principal or supplemental trademark register". We will always be realistic and if there is a problem with your mark we will tell you and advise against filing. We do not attempt to determine whether the mark might be generic of descriptive or if these issues might prevent registration. Such issues should not occur if you have followed our guidance on choosing a mark - you should not have any problems of that type. Note that although we screen your trademark for you for free, we also provide you with clear instructions (on this website) showing you how to select a good trademark, and how to screen it yourself. You do not have to use it but lots of people have asked us for this, so we have provided it and we encourage you to use this free system before deciding to apply for trademark registration.
Trademark law is simple - if you are an experienced trademark attorney! It's a specialty and even other non-trademark attorneys would never try to file their own trademark. Probably the worst problems are caused by using a trademark for your business that has been filed, but not screened or incorrectly filed. This happens all the time. The result is that you start using the trademark, your business becomes successfully and you gain commercial recognition with your mark, and then you find you have to stop using it and start again with a whole new mark. It can be DISASTROUS!
Here is a helpful link from the USPTO explaining some common problems in trademark applications.
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/common-problems
If you are selling on Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) in the US, you really should sign up with the Amazon Brand Registry. To use Amazon Brand Registry in the US you must have a registered or active pending trademark application in the USPTO. Amazon Brand Registry provides automated AI-implemented protection to prevent bad (infringing) listings before they are listed with Amazon, and remove them if they are listed. We work with you to get your trademark registered. You can search the Amazon catalog to find possible infringement of trademark and design rights (people copying your trademark or design), copyright (people copying your listing and marketing materials), and patent rights (people infringing your patents). Amazon provides tools so you can report any violations directly to them. We can help you with this and know how to report and stop violatiors. We also work with other US platforms such as www.Etsy.com and www.Ebay.com. We work with associate attorneys in other countries who can get infringing users stopped wherever they are illegitimately damaging your brand. For more information see https://brandservices.amazon.com/brandregistry
If you are not a US resident but want to file a US trademark - it's no problem at all. Non-US residents can file US trademarks - but they MUST be represented by a registered and licensed US Attorney. We will provide US Trademark Attorney representation for all non-US applicants. If you already have a trademark (or application) in another country, just email us, because there are certain special things that need to be done to correctly file a US trademark application claiming the benefit of a foreign mark or application. Just email us - we know how to take care of it.
If you want to file a trademark in any non-US country, our law firm, Bell & Associates can help. We regularly file trademarks in non-US countries such as Canada, the UK, Europe, india, and China through our network of associate firms. The total cost is about $550-$850 depending on where you file. If you are interested, just email us at TM@bell-iplaw.com. We'll be happy to help.
A registered trademark allows you to protect your brand by preventing others from using your product and business names. If your business becomes successful, and for example you are selling lots of goods on Amazon or Etsy, what you want to avoid is to have someone else rip off your trade-name and sell counterfeit (“knock off”) goods using your name or a close variation of it. This is very common. A trademark will give you the means to stop that infringement and shut down the infringing competitor. If you have a registered trademark you can block the infringer from selling on Amazon or Etsy etc. This is often fairly easy and it can be done at little cost just by contacting the sales portal and providing proof of your trademark. If things become more serious, then you can ask a court to issue an injunction to prevent further infringement. In certain cases you can collect money damages, called "statutory damages", and a court can award between $1,000 and $200,000 or each type of good or service, sold, distributed, or offered for sale. If the plaintiff can further prove willfulness, the court award may increase the maximum damages award to $2 million dollars. So as you can see, a trademark can provide a powerful tool to protect your business.
In the US, a trademark can last forever. Look at Coca Cola and Ford! You have to continue to use it in commerce and renew it every ten years. To renew a registered trademark, the owner just needs to file a maintenance document with USPTO and pay a fee.
Not every business needs a trademark. You only need one if you sell or offer goods or services between states or between the US and another country. So selling jewelry or tee-shirts on Amazon or Etsy or selling services on Fiverr definitely would qualify. But if you start a local hair-dressers or a garage or a hot-dog stand, and simply serve customers locally, and don't intend to advertise across state lines, then really there may be no need to apply for a federal trademark. As soon as you start using a trademark in connection with goods/services, you automatically acquire a common law trademark rights in that trademark associated with your goods/services. But common law rights are limited to the specific locations where you are using your trademark and they have limited remedies for infringement. If you intend to offer a product or service in more than one state, you should consider filing for a federal trademark registration which provides national rights.
Have a look at the section called CHOSING YOUR TRADEMARK. Strong trademarks are typically creative or unique, setting you apart from your competitors. These trademarks include FANCIFUL, ARBITRARY, or SUGGESTIVE trademarks. FANCIFUL trademarks are invented words. They only have meaning in relation to their goods or services. For example, Exxon® for petroleum, Pepsi® for soft drinks, Nike, Amazon, and “X” for Twitter! These words don’t really mean anything. They are very strong marks because they are entirely FANCIFUL.
When you file a trademark application you have to pick one or more classes that relate to the goods/services that the trademark is being used to identify. You cannot add classes once you have filed. For a small business, one class is often enough. If you decide to file in more than one class, then the USPTO requires more fees - usually $250 filing fee per class. Don't file in multiple classes if you do not have a good reason to do so. There may be good reasons to file a trademark in more than one class. For example if you sell handbags, those are goods, but if you also manage handbag manufacturing workshops for other people, that's a service, so you might want to get a trademark for the goods and for services. If you sell two different things, such as clothes and jewelry, you may need to file in both classes: class 14 for Jewelry, and class 25 for clothing. For example, NETFLIX is registered for a downloadable app (class 009) and streaming services (class 38) and for clothing (class 25). You really need to ask yourself what the trademark is for, what you are selling, and how a trademark will protect your business. Usually a single class is enough, especially if you can make the description of goods as broad as possible. But it all depends on your business. We will work with you to make sure you have the right class(es) for your trademark.
The USPTO provides a publicly accessible trademark identification manual that allows easy class identification.
Here are the USPTO Trademark classes:
Products/Goods
Services
"Use in commerce", for the purposes of trademark law, means interstate commerce - the offering or selling of goods or services between different states or between the US and another country. To apply for a trademark, you do not have to already be using your trademark, but you must at least have a bona fide intent to use it. To REGISTER your mark, you must show you have used it in commerce. You can't simply "squat" on a trademark and not do anything with it, or simply acquire it with the hope of selling it to someone else for a profit. You are given about four years to show use in commerce.
Trademark-Quick will file the appropriate kind of trademark application for you, whether it is on the basis of Intent-to-use, or actual use in commerce. We'll take care of it and file the right application for you.
Filing a trademark on the basis of "Intent-to-use" (ITU) means that you haven’t started using your trademark in commerce, but you have a bona fide intent to do so within the next three to four years. For example, you might intend to make and sell jewelry, but you’re just at the point of sourcing your materials—you haven’t started making or selling jewelry yet. Or you might currently be providing personal training services only to local clients in your state, but in the next year you’ll be expanding your services into the neighboring state. Although you can apply to register your trademark with an intent-to-use you cannot actually register your trademark until you show that you’ve started using it in commerce and you file the proper TEAS form.
Filing a trademark on the basis of "Use" means you are already using your trademark in interstate or international commerce. For example, you might grow wheat in Kansas and sell it to buyers in Massachusetts or Mexico. Or you might provide website design services from your home in Oregon to customers in Georgia and Guam. To register your trademark, you’ll need to provide evidence that you’re using it in commerce. This means you’ll need to submit a "Specimen" showing how you use your trademark. You’ll also need to provide the date you first used your trademark in commerce and the date you first used it anywhere. A Specimen is a real-life example showing how you use your trademark in commerce with your goods or services. It could show the trademark on your goods, their packaging, or in point-of-sale displays, or in the sale, rendering, or advertising of your services. Specimens must be submitted for certain applications and registration maintenance filings.
This information is from the excellent USPTO website:
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/application-filing-basis
It will take 1-4 weeks to get your trademark filed with the USPTO.
As soon as you start using a trademark in commerce to identify the source of goods or services you are selling, you can us the "TM" mark. You do not have to have filed a trademark application to use "TM". It just shows that you are caliming it as a trademark. You also use the "TM" mark after you have filed your trademark application, but before it has been registered. Only once the mark is registered can you use the "R" mark.
We will screen your proposed word trade mark for free. Just fill out the form on this website. Once you decide to go ahead and file a trademark application, and pay the fees, we will send you a questionnaire. We will need the following:
For quick questions about searching and filing, we are always here to help, and there will be no additional fee. Just email us. But more complex things, and work beyond search and filing may not be covered in our fee. Our fixed fee covers just what we describe - search and filing. We should easily be able to give you everything you need to file your trademark. If you do need legal help beyond this, it will have to be part of a separate agreement and you will have to engage our firm, Bell & Associates, San Francisco. Just email info@bell-iplaw.com. It's usually a simple process, and in fact it's the traditional way to work with a lawyer. So just email us. we will be happy to give you a quote for whatever you need.
All correspondence is by email. Just use the 'Contact Us' form and we will email you back. Or email us at TM@bell-iplaw.com. We will happy to hear from you. We do not normally communicate by telephone as it is inefficient, and we much prefer everything to be in writing. But if you do need us to call you, then of course we will.
After your trademark is filed, the USPTO will examine it. If everything is OK, it will be registered on the Principal Trademark Register and you can start using the "R" symbol. If the USPTO examiner thinks it is descriptive, then you may be given the option of registering it on the Supplementary Register. Remember, before your mark can be registered, you need to use the trademark on all goods/services identified. Once an application is filed, you generally cannot add additional classes. An attorney can assist in selecting the appropriate classes and explain the evidence that will be required by the trademark office to support use of the trademark. If the USPTO examiner needs more information or if they object to the registration for some reason, they will send you correspondence clearly explaining everything and requesting a reply within a certain time (usually 3 months). It is often a relatively simple matter. A common requirement is that the examiner may ask you to amend the description of the goods/services. This is a usually simple matter, and the examiner will tell you the amendments needed. You can reply yourself, or you can contact us to help you. Just email us at TM@bell-iplaw.com. We'll be happy to help
No. But our partner law firm, Bell & Associates can do that.
You can email questions to info@bell-iplaw.com.
Yes. Absolutely everything is confidential and we will treat your mark as secret and non-public.
The USPTO has a lot of useful information on its website, including the following:
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics
Basic Facts About Trademarks: What Every Small Business Should Know Now, Not Later.
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