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The Zest

On a Budget? Which Name to Trademark First

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"I can't afford to trademark everything. What do I file first?" If next year's list includes the business name, three product names, a logo and a tagline, start with the name customers actually use to find you and talk about you. For most small businesses that's the business name, filed as plain words. The rest can follow in stages, as the budget and the business allow.

Here's how to work out the order.

Start with what customers actually say

A trademark protects whatever tells customers who's behind a product or service. So ask a plain question: when someone recommends you, what word do they use? When someone looks you up, what do they type?

For a service business, a coach or a creator, the answer is almost always the business name. For a product brand, it's usually the brand on every label, not the name of any one product. The name that shows up on everything, every week, does the most work, and it's the one you'd be most hurt to lose.

There's a timing reason to start there, too. Once a registration issues, your filing date counts as constructive use of the mark nationwide for the goods or services listed. Someone who starts using a confusingly similar name after that date is generally behind you. The asset you can least afford to lose should get that date first.

Business name or product names

A business name and a product name aren't the same kind of asset. The business name sits over everything you sell. A product name sits over one line, and product lines change. Some get renamed, some get dropped, and some end up becoming the whole company.

That's why the house name usually goes first, and product names wait until they've shown they'll stick. The exception is the product that is the business. If you sell one thing and customers know the product name better than the company name, the product name goes first.

One more trap: the name on your state paperwork isn't automatically a brand you own. Your LLC is not your trademark, and forming one doesn't take the place of a filing.

Logos and taglines can usually wait

One sentence on logos, since another post covers them: a standard character application protects the words without claim to any particular font, style, size or color, while a logo application covers the design as drawn, so on a tight budget the words usually go further.

A tagline can be a trademark if customers see it as pointing to you. Plenty don't clear that bar. The USPTO refuses matter that's merely informational, including common phrases and messages that would ordinarily be used in advertising or in the industry, because customers don't read them as a brand. If your tagline sounds like something any business in your field could say, it's a poor first filing.

The same strong versus weak logic that applies to names applies here. A distinctive tagline you use everywhere can be worth registering. It's rarely worth registering before the name it sits under.

What it costs, class by class

Government fees are charged per class, per application. Under the fee schedule that took effect January 18, 2025, the base application fee is $350 per class. Writing your own description of the goods or services instead of using a pre-approved one adds $200 per class, and leaving out required information adds $100 per class.

So the cost of a first filing depends less on which mark you pick and more on how many classes it needs. Goods and services are never in the same class. A coach who only offers coaching may need one class. A candle brand that also teaches candle-making workshops needs at least two: one for the candles, one for the workshops. Each class is another $350 at minimum.

The cost people forget is the one that comes later. Every registration has maintenance filings, the first one due in the year before the sixth anniversary of registration, then in the year before each tenth anniversary. Missing them cancels the registration. Budget for the life of the mark, not just the filing.

Filing in stages

A staged plan for a typical small business looks something like this.

First, the main brand name, in plain words, in the class or classes that cover what you sell now. Search it before you file, because a filing fee spent on a name you can't keep is the most expensive mistake on this list.

Second, the next asset that's earned it: a product name that's become a real line, or the brand name in a new class as you expand.

Third, the logo once it's settled, and the tagline if it's distinctive and you use it everywhere.

Staging has a cost of its own. A mark you haven't filed for doesn't have a filing date, and someone else can file first. So move anything about to get public attention up the list. A product launching next quarter is a better candidate than one that's been quiet for two years. And if a name isn't in use yet but will be soon, you don't have to wait for the launch: an intent-to-use application lets you file now and prove use later.

If you're mapping out what to file in the new year, you can see how the search and filing packages work on the services page, and the FAQs page answers most of what comes up before a first call.

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(No legal advice is given on the discovery call. It's a chance to tell me what you're building and hear how the process works.)

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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