Cheap Trademark Registration: Saving Money and Protecting Your Brand
As an attorney, I think every entrepreneur should invest in high quality legal services because I recognize the importance of protecting everything you’ve worked hard to build. But as a solopreneur, know what it’s like to operate a business on a tight budget. Every opportunity to save money should be considered. So when it comes to registering your trademark on the cheap, I’m torn.
Cheap trademark registration options leave you vulnerable to mistakes that a lawyer would know to avoid. However, more cheaper options allow more small business owners to protect their brand, which is undoubtedly a good thing. Seeing the advantages of both approaches, I think it’s important that you have the information you need to make the right decision for your business. And that’s why I wrote this post.
Today, I’ll outline some of the alternatives to hiring a lawyer to register your trademark, and give my honest opinion the advantages and disadvantages, so you can decide what’s best for you. And as always, if this post raises more questions for you, schedule some time for us to chat. I’m here to help you decide the best way to protect your brand.
Let’s get into it!
How much does a trademark cost?
The federal trademark process itself is not cheap. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) charges a $250 fee per class of goods. That means you will pay at least $250 to register your trademark. But the total fee will vary depending on your circumstances.
If you need to use the TEAS Standard application, instead of the cheaper TEAS Plus application, you’ll have to pay $350 per class. If your business sells products and services that fall into multiple classes, you’ll have to pay an additional fee for each class that you want to protect your trademark under. And if you make any mistakes or leave anything out of your application, you may have to pay additional fees to correct them.
In my experience, the average entrepreneur should budget about $500-600 for trademark filing fees alone. But if you are waiting until the new year to register your trademark, you may have to pay more.
Earlier this year, the USPTO proposed an increase to the general trademark filing fees. Their plan is to increase the fee from $250 to $350 for all applicants. And while there’s still a chance that this price hike may not go into effect, entrepreneurs should plan accordingly.
How much does a trademark attorney cost?
What should you budget for hiring a trademark attorney? From what I can tell, most law firms charge between $1,500 to $3,000. However, it’s difficult to say because most law firms are not transparent in their pricing.
At MZA Legal, we charge $2,250 to run a professional trademark search, prepare and file the application, and communicate with the USPTO as your trademark application is processed. This does not include responses to substantive office actions. However, it does include unlimited communication with your attorney throughout the process, and the filing fee for one class.
Recently, someone asked me “Zane, why’s it so expensive?” And I get it. A couple thousand dollars sounds like a lot to do something that you could do on your own. But the fact is, there’s a ton of value in working with a professional.
First, working with an attorney helps avoid critical mistakes that could derail your application, sparing you from unnecessary hassle and frustration. Trademark registration is more complicated than many people realize. There’s one way to get it right, and a hundred ways to get it wrong. As professionals, we rely on our experience to help you avoid the types of mistakes that may result in your trademark being denied, and your money being wasted.
Second, working with an attorney saves you time. You didn’t start a business to study trademark law. You started your business to help your clients and customers, and to make money. By hiring a trademark attorney, you can get your brand the protection it needs, while remaining focused on the activities that generate income for your business.
Lastly, your trademark attorney serves as your guide to all things brand protection. As your trusted advisor, your attorney can help you understand how to leverage your trademark and use it to create passive income, without putting your brand at risk.
Do I need to hire an attorney?
While you SHOULD hire a trademark attorney to help you register your trademark, you don’t NEED to. Only individuals and companies who don’t call the US home are required to be represented by an attorney.
So if you’re not going to hire an attorney to protect your brand, what are the alternatives?
Cheap trademark registration options
“The Poor Man’s Trademark”
I have to mention the so-called “poor man’s trademark” because people frequently ask me about it. A poor man’s trademark is when you mail a copy of your trademark to yourself, and keep the sealed envelope to prove that you were using your trademark as of the date that it’s postmarked.
To be clear, this method does not result in trademark registration. Rather, it is meant to prove your common law rights in your brand.
Common law trademark rights can be established by using your brand in commerce. They generally apply to the geographic area in which you’re using your trademark, provided there’s no one else with prior rights that supersede yours.
Obviously, you’ll save money with a poor-man’s trademark. However, it’s not an effective way to protect your brand.
For starters, it won’t give you the nationwide protection that you get with federal registration, or the expanded remedies for infringement that are available to federal trademark holders.
Second, it’s harder to protect common law trademark rights. The poor man’s trademark doesn’t result in registration. Thus, the public is not on notice that you’re claiming trademark rights to your brand. So, there’s a greater risk that someone could infringe on your mark, forcing you to spend your time, money, and energy to defend it.
Third, with this method, there’s no way to tell whether you actually have rights to your trademark. Without a trademark search, there’s no way to tell if someone else already owns a registered trademark that takes priority over yours. And the extent of your rights can only be defined in a courtroom.
In short, the “poor man’s trademark” leaves your brand vulnerable.
State Trademarks
Another option would be to file a state trademark application. This application can typically be filed with the department of state in any state in which you are doing business.
State registration is typically much cheaper, and the registration process is also much simpler. Like the “poor-man’s trademark” your trademark rights will be geographically limited. However, your rights are a little easier to protect because the public will be on notice that you’ve claimed rights to your brand.
The problem with registering your trademark at the state level is that it doesn’t provide nationwide protection. Someone else could register a similar trademark in another state, or even federally. In which case, your trademark rights, while established in your state, would be severely limited everywhere else. Furthermore, you don’t have access to the statutory protections provided by the Lanham Act.
So while state registration is cheaper and simpler than applying for federal registration, it also leaves your trademark vulnerable.
Do it Yourself Trademark
You could register your trademark federally without professional help. As mentioned above, US individuals and companies that call the US home are not required to have an attorney represent them through the federal trademark process.
By going the DIY route, you’ll save yourself thousands of dollars upfront. You can also combine this approach with a relatively affordable trademark service like LegalZoom to make the process a little simpler – saving some time along the way. However, the DIY route has some significant disadvantages.
First, filing a federal trademark application on your own will take up much more of your time than hiring someone to file for you. Although you can use DIY services to simplify and speed up the process, you’ll still want to do significant research in order to avoid mistakes. And the more time you spend researching trademarks, the less time you spend making money in your business.
Furthermore, DIYers often make costly mistakes that result in initial rejections (office actions). Addressing these office actions may or may not require additional fees. But they will always extend the amount of time it takes to get your trademark registered.
Sometimes, applicants make mistakes that they can’t overcome on their own. For example, if they fail to conduct a proper trademark search and receive a 2(d) refusal for likelihood of confusion. Such refusals are difficult to overcome, and require careful legal research and analysis. Hiring an attorney at this stage could be twice as expensive as it would have been to work with them from the start. And even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll get the result you’re looking for.
Working with an attorney from start to finish can help you avoid such mistakes. Your attorney will run a professional trademark search to find similar marks, and prepare your application in a way that maximizes your chances of registration.
Trademark Courses
Finally, you could take a trademark registration course. These courses, often created by experienced trademark attorneys, are designed to walk you through the trademark process from start to finish.
The advantage of these courses is that they give you access to professional expertise for a fraction of what it would cost to hire an attorney. Courses also help simplify and streamline the trademark process, by highlighting the issues that tend to be the most relevant to entrepreneurs. Lastly, they can provide a nice on ramp to working with an attorney if you have questions, or have an issue that you need help navigating.
The downside here is similar to taking the full DIY approach. While the information provided in the course is going to help you navigate the process, it is designed with general circumstances in mind. So it probably won’t address all of the issues or questions that are relevant to your situation. For these questions, you’ll either have to spend extra time searching for an answer, or pay extra to get the answer you’re looking for from an attorney.
Bottom Line on Cheap Trademark Registration…
Here are the key takeaways:
- If you have the money to invest in an attorney, hire an attorney. Your time is far more valuable than your money. Save yourself the time and hassle, and put your trademark registration process on autopilot by working with a professional.
- If you don’t have the money, consider investing in a DIY trademark course. This will allow you to save some money, while still getting access to professional know-how.
- If you don’t have the money to invest in support, consider whether now is the right time to register. Federal registration is the beginning, not the end, of your brand protection journey. Once your trademark is registered, you’ll need to use it, monitor it, and keep up with periodic filing requirements with the USPTO. If someone infringes on your trademark, will you have the resources to find and go after them if necessary? If the answer is no, maybe your time and energy would be better spent finding out how to generate the revenue to support your brand protection efforts.
Continuing the Conversation
If you’re having trouble deciding between hiring a lawyer, or one of the options listed above, give us a call. At MZA Legal, we’re on a mission to make professional legal know-how available to everyone. We’re happy to help you evaluate your options and choose a path forward that’s right for your business.