Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC)

It’s important to have a strong trademark that is inherently distinctive. This means your trademark quickly and clearly identifies you as the source of your goods or services. The stronger your trademark is, the more easily you can prevent others from using it without your permission. Weak trademarks can be difficult and costly for you to defend because they don’t have the same legal protections as stronger trademarks.

Strong trademarks are suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary. Weak trademarks are descriptive or generic. Think about them this way. You want your trademark to be strong or “hot,” as opposed to weak or “cold.”

Information and graphics from the USPTO.

An overview of a trademark application and maintenance process. See the USPTO Trademark Process for full details.

1. Is a trademark application right for you?
   1. Trademarks, patents, copyrights, domain names, and business name registrations all differ, so it is important to learn whether a trademark is appropriate for you.
2. Get ready to apply
   1. Select a mark
   2. Identify your mark format
   3. Identify your goods and/or services
   4. Search for similar trademarks
   5. Know what your basis for filing is
   6. Determine whether you need an attorney. See more information about hiring an attorney.
3. Prepare and submit your application
   1. Set up a USPTO.gov account
   2. File the application online through the TEAS. View trademark fee information.
   3. Monitor the status of your application every 3-4 months through the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system.
   4. Maintain and update your address, including your email address.
4. Work with the assigned USPTO examining attorney
   1. USPTO reviews application
   2. USPTO issues letter (office action) if the examining attorney determines that a mark should not be registered.
   3. You (or your attorney, if you have one) must submit a response to the office action within three months of the issue date of the office action.
5. Receive approval/denial of your application
   1. USPTO publishes mark
   2. Registration certificate issues for applications based on use
   3. Notice of allowance issues for applications based on an intent to use the mark
   4. Applicant files statement of use or extension request
   5. If applicant does not file timely statement of use or extension request, the application is considered abandoned.
   6. USPTO reviews statement of use
   7. If your response does not overcome all objections, the examining attorney will issue a final refusal office action
6. Maintain your registration
   1. Within approximately two months after the SOU is approved, the USPTO issues a registration. To keep the registration "live," the registrant must file specific maintenance documents.
   2. Even if your mark registers, you should monitor the status of your registration on an annual basis through the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system.
   3. Maintain and update your address, including your email address. 
   4. Protecting your rights: You are responsible for enforcing your rights if you receive a registration, because the USPTO does not "police" the use of marks.

Adapted from the USPTO Trademark Process.

All information submitted, including your name and contact information, enters the public record upon applying for a trademark. Visit the USPTO Non-USPTO Solicitations website for information about avoiding scams.

View USPTO's efforts to develop systems that protect trademark owners from fraud, theft, and abuse, and tips on what you can do to protect your trademark application or registration.