The things founders actually ask.
Filing takes days. Registration takes time. The USPTO reports about 4.3 months, on average, before an examiner first acts on an application, and about 10.4 months, on average, from filing to a registration or an abandoned application (USPTO data as of October 1, 2026). Your rights date back to your filing date, so the clock that matters starts the day we file.
The name, logo, or tagline that identifies what you sell, not the product or service itself. A federal registration gives you nationwide rights in your class of goods, the presumption of ownership, and the standing to stop someone else from using a confusingly similar name.
Names, logos and slogans are the most common. Sounds, colors and product shapes can qualify with extra proof. The test is whether it tells customers who a product or service comes from. Generic words and plain descriptions of what you sell usually cannot register.
Usually the name, filed as a word mark. A word mark covers the name in any font, size or color, so it follows your brand through every redesign. A logo filing protects one specific design, and it makes sense once that design is settled. Read more in The Zest: Word Mark or Logo: Which Should You File First?.
Yes. An intent-to-use application lets you file now and show use later, and your filing date becomes your place in line. Once the USPTO allows the mark, you have six months to show it in use, with extensions in six-month blocks for up to three years. Read more in The Zest: Can You Trademark a Name Before You Launch?.
A class is one of 45 categories the USPTO uses to sort goods and services: 1 to 34 for goods, 35 to 45 for services. Most USPTO fees are charged per class, starting at $350 each. You need a class for each kind of thing you sell under the name, and the search shows which classes fit before anything is filed. Read more in The Zest: A Trademark Class Is a Filing Category, Not a Fence Around Your Brand.
They protect different things. A trademark protects the name, logo or slogan that tells customers it is you. Copyright protects creative work, like photos, writing, videos and artwork. A patent protects an invention. Read more in The Zest: Trademark, Copyright or Patent? Which One Protects What You Made.
Anyone can use ™ to say they claim a name as a brand. The ® symbol is only for marks registered with the USPTO. Using ® before registration can cause problems.
It is a letter from the USPTO examining attorney with an objection or a question about your application. You usually have three months to respond. Some are procedural, like fixing a description. Others are substantive, like a refusal for likelihood of confusion. Grove covers every procedural response. Harvest covers both.
At Citrus Legal, fees are flat and agreed in writing before any work starts. A clearance search and written opinion is $650. A one-class application with a comprehensive search and opinion is $1,800. USPTO filing fees are separate and paid to the government.
Yes. An LLC registration gives you the right to do business under that name in one state. It does not stop anyone else from using the name, and it does not stop someone in another state from registering it federally ahead of you. They are two different filings solving two different problems.
Whoever actually owns the brand on the day you file. If your LLC runs the business, sells the product and takes the money, the LLC should be the applicant. Naming the wrong owner can void the application, and that cannot be fixed later. Read more in The Zest: Should the Trademark Be in Your Name or Your LLC's?.
You can. The application looks like a form, which is what makes it risky: the description of goods, the class, the filing basis, and the specimen all determine how much protection you end up with, and mistakes in them are often not fixable later. Most self-filed applications that fail do so on those details rather than on the name.
That is what the search is for, and it is why the clearance opinion comes before the filing. Sometimes the other use is in a different class and both marks can coexist. Sometimes it is a genuine conflict and the right answer is to adjust the name now rather than after you have built recognition. Either way you will know before spending anything on a filing.
Registration has to be maintained. There are declarations due between the fifth and sixth years and renewals every ten, and a registration nobody defends can weaken. Ongoing watch service, deadline tracking, and enforcement letters are what the Orchard stage covers.
Yes. Trademark practice before the USPTO is federal, so I can represent clients in any state. Florida is where the office is, not the limit of the practice.
A state registration only covers that state. In Florida it costs $87.50 per class and lasts five years. A federal registration covers the whole country, which matters as soon as you sell online or outside the state. For a brand whose home market is Florida, a state registration can sit alongside a federal one. Read more in The Zest: Florida Has Its Own Trademark Register. Should You Use It?.
You get the fee in writing before any work starts, and it does not change as the matter progresses. USPTO filing fees are paid directly to the government and are always separate. If something falls outside the stage, such as additional classes or a substantive refusal, I quote it before beginning, never after.
The free call (opens in a new tab) is a 15-minute discovery call. We talk about your business, what you need, and whether Citrus Legal is the right fit. It is not legal advice. A paid consultation (opens in a new tab) is 30 minutes of advice on your specific situation, your options, and your next step. Neither one creates an attorney-client relationship. That begins only once a signed engagement letter is in place.
Want to learn every term in a trademark? Read our glossary.
Not sure which stage you are in?
We’re here to help. Bring the name, and we’ll tell you where you stand.