how to trademark your name

what a trademark actually protects

A trademark protects a name, logo, phrase, or design that identifies the source of goods or services. It stops competitors from using something confusingly similar in your space.

What it isn't: a trademark doesn't protect an idea, a business model, or a body of creative work. That's what copyright and patents are for. Trademark protects the thing customers use to recognize you.

Useful thing to know first: you already have common-law rights in a name you're actively using in business, in the geographic area where you use it. Federal registration doesn't create your rights from nothing — it expands them nationally, puts everyone on notice, and gives you real standing to enforce.

what it costs in 2026

This is where most articles are wrong, because the structure changed recently.

On January 18, 2025 the USPTO eliminated the old TEAS Plus ($250) and TEAS Standard ($350) options and consolidated them into a single base application fee of $350 per class, filed through the new Trademark Center. The USPTO confirms Trademark Center is now where you file new applications. If you see "TEAS Plus vs. TEAS Standard" anywhere, that page is out of date.

The base fee assumes a "clean" application. Surcharges stack per class: +$100 for insufficient information, +$200 for custom free-form goods/services descriptions not in the ID Manual, and +$200 per extra 1,000 characters. To pay only $350, use pre-approved descriptions from the USPTO's Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual.

Later costs: maintenance filings rose in 2025 — the Section 8 declaration is now $325 per class and Section 9 renewal is $325 per class, due at intervals to keep the registration alive. Attorney fees for a straightforward single-class filing run roughly $500–$1,500 on top of the government fee.

classes are the biggest cost lever

Trademarks are registered within international classes of goods and services. The fee is per class, not per application — so a clothing brand that also sells software services may need two classes, and the fee is multiplied, not bundled.

The instinct is to register broadly "just in case." Resist it. Limit classes to what you actually sell now — typically one to three; extras double costs without adding real protection in categories you aren't operating in. You can file additional classes later when the business actually expands into them.

the search, done properly

The critical thing to understand: the USPTO examines for “confusingly similar” marks, not just exact matches, using a 13-factor legal test. So "nobody has this exact spelling" is not the standard. Similar sound, similar appearance, similar meaning, and similar goods all count.

1. Search the USPTO database for identical, phonetic, and visually similar marks in your class. Say your name out loud and search what it sounds like, not just how you spell it.
2. Check beyond the federal register — state trademark registries, domain registrations, and social media handles surface unregistered common-law marks that can still block or complicate you.
3. Search plain Google in your industry. A company using the name without registering still has common-law rights in their area.
4. Consider a professional clearance search if the brand matters. Typical cost is a few hundred to about $1,000 — real money, and cheaper than rebranding after two years of building equity in a name you have to abandon.

filing it

1. Create a USPTO.gov account. You'll need multifactor authentication and identity verification before you can access Trademark Center.
2. Choose your filing basis. “Use in commerce” if you're already operating; “intent to use” if you're pre-launch. Intent-to-use stakes your place in line before launch, but requires an additional Statement of Use filing and fee before registration is granted.
3. Pick classes from the ID Manual. Using pre-approved language keeps you at the $350 base fee.
4. Provide a specimen — real evidence of the mark in use, like a product photo or website screenshot. Mockups don't count.
5. File and wait. Expect months. An examining attorney reviews it, may issue an Office Action, and if cleared it publishes for opposition before registering.

trademark vs. copyright vs. LLC

These get conflated constantly, and they protect completely different things.

Notably: forming an LLC does not give you trademark rights. Registering "Maltiplata LLC" with your state stops another LLC in that state from taking the identical entity name — it does not stop a company in another state from using the brand name, and it gives you no federal protection.

the bottom line

Trademark is one of the few areas where the order of operations is genuinely rigid: search thoroughly, then file cleanly, then stay in one to three classes. Do it backwards and the money is simply gone.

And it's worth doing before you invest heavily in a name — because the expensive version of this isn't the filing fee, it's discovering after two years that someone else got there first.

Your next tiny step: search your name on the USPTO database and say it out loud to search what it sounds like too. Free, ten minutes, and it's the step that determines whether any of the rest is worth doing.