Short answer: You own a trademark as soon as you use your business name or logo with your goods or services. For rights across the whole country, apply to register it with the USPTO. Pick a distinctive mark, search for similar ones first, and expect the process to take 12 to 18 months.
Before you read: This guide explains how federal registration works, based on the USPTO’s own pages. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific case, talk to a trademark attorney licensed in the United States.
What a trademark protects
A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of them, that identifies your goods or services. It is how customers recognize you and tell you apart from competitors. The USPTO calls a mark for services a service mark, but the word trademark covers both.
A trademark doesn’t make a word yours. Your rights cover how you use it with your specific goods or services. That is why identical marks with different owners are registered for Dove soap and Dove ice cream bars.
It is also different from a patent or a copyright. The USPTO grants patents for inventions and registers trademarks, while the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress registers copyrights for creative works.
Using a mark or registering it
Use comes first. You become the owner as soon as you start using the mark with your goods or services, but those common law rights only reach the area where you do business. Registering is your choice, and where you register sets how far your rights go.
A state registration creates rights in that state only. A federal registration with the USPTO creates rights throughout the United States and its territories. It also puts your mark in the USPTO’s public database, where anyone searching for similar marks will see it.
The USPTO lists other benefits of federal registration: a legal presumption that you own the mark, the right to sue in federal court and the use of the ® symbol. The USPTO is not an enforcement agency, though, so pursuing anyone who copies your mark is up to you.
You can use TM for goods or SM for services before you apply. Once the mark is registered, use ®, but only with the goods or services listed in the registration.
Choosing a mark you can protect
The USPTO sorts marks from strong to weak. Strong marks are creative or unique and easier to defend. Weak marks are hard to protect against competitors and often can’t be registered federally.
| Kind of mark | What it is | USPTO example |
|---|---|---|
| Fanciful | An invented word | Exxon for petroleum |
| Arbitrary | A real word with no link to what you sell | Apple for computers |
| Suggestive | Hints at a quality without stating it | Coppertone for sun-tanning products |
| Descriptive | Merely describes what you sell | “Creamy” for yogurt |
| Generic | The everyday name of what you sell | “Bagel shop” for a bagel shop |
Our own summary of the USPTO page on strong trademarks, read on November 6, 2026.
Descriptive marks can be registered only in certain cases, such as gaining distinctiveness through extensive use over many years. Generic names can’t be registered federally at all. The USPTO also suggests checking that people will remember, pronounce and spell your mark. If you plan to sell outside the United States under it, check what it means in other languages, and whether it could offend.
Searching for similar marks first
Likelihood of confusion is the most common reason the USPTO refuses a registration. It happens when your mark is confusingly similar to another one and the goods or services are related, so buyers could think both come from the same source.
Marks don’t have to be identical to clash. They can sound alike, look alike, mean the same thing or give the same overall impression. Goods can be related when they are used together, have the same buyers or are advertised together.
Search the USPTO’s trademark database, but don’t stop there. It only lists federal applications and registrations, so the USPTO suggests also searching the Internet, state trademark databases and business name databases. Our guide to choosing a business name covers those state records. The examining attorney will search the federal database anyway when your application is reviewed.
If the search turns up a conflict and you decide to rename the business, our guide to changing your business name on Google covers your profile. Our local citations guide covers the directories that list your old name.
How to register your trademark
- Choose a mark that is fanciful, arbitrary or suggestive.
- Write down the goods or services you use it with.
- Search the USPTO database, the Internet and state databases for similar marks.
- Decide whether to file yourself or hire a trademark attorney.
- Create a USPTO.gov account and verify your identity.
- File the application in Trademark Center and pay the fees.
- Answer any letter from the examining attorney, called an office action.
Be specific about the goods or services. The USPTO warns that applying for more than you use, or intend to use, is likely to get your application denied. Identity verification is mandatory for anyone who files, and for most people it takes less than 15 minutes online.
Many owners start with the brand name for their main goods or services, and the USPTO notes you might also protect a slogan or logo. Filing a name in standard characters protects the wording itself, however it is displayed. If you file a logo too, our advice is to use the version in your brand guidelines, so the mark you register is the one you use.
How long registration takes and how long it lasts
The USPTO says the process usually takes 12 to 18 months, and there is no guarantee the mark will ever register. When we read its page on November 6, 2026, it was examining new applications filed between June 8 and June 22, 2026. Filing accurately can speed things up.
A registration can last forever, as long as you keep using the mark and file maintenance documents at set intervals. The first one is due between the fifth and sixth year after the registration date. Miss them and you lose the federal registration.
When to hire a trademark attorney
If you are domiciled in the United States, you don’t need an attorney. If you are domiciled abroad, you must have a U.S.-licensed attorney represent you. Even when you don’t need one, the USPTO suggests weighing it: without an attorney, you act as your own.
The USPTO lists what an attorney can do for you: give legal advice about your mark, run the clearance search, prepare the application, answer the USPTO’s letters and enforce your rights. With an attorney, the USPTO writes only to them.
Be careful with trademark filing companies. The USPTO says they are not the same as law firms, doesn’t endorse them, and notes that you pay their fees on top of its own.
Before you file
- Your mark is fanciful, arbitrary or suggestive, not descriptive or generic.
- You listed only the goods or services you use it with or plan to.
- You searched the USPTO database, the Internet and state databases.
- You decided whether to hire a trademark attorney.
- Your USPTO.gov account is ready and your identity verified.
- You use TM or SM for now and ® only after registration.
RememberUsing your name or logo makes you its owner, and federal registration adds rights across the country. Choose a distinctive mark, search before you file, describe your goods or services precisely, and ask a trademark attorney about your own case.
Our branding service designs the logo, colors, fonts and voice of your brand, with a guide your team can use without us, in English and Spanish. You own every source file. The registration itself is a legal step for you and your attorney. Send us a WhatsApp message or use the form.
Quick answers about trademarks
What is the difference between TM and the ® symbol?
You can use TM for goods or SM for services even before you apply. The ® symbol is only for marks registered with the USPTO, and only with the goods and services listed in the registration.
How long does it take to register a trademark?
The USPTO says the process usually takes 12 to 18 months, and there is no guarantee the mark will register. When we read its page, it was examining new applications filed in June 2026.
Can I trademark a name that describes what I sell?
It is hard. The USPTO calls descriptive marks weak: they can be registered only in certain cases, such as gaining distinctiveness through extensive use over many years. Generic names, like “bagel shop” for a bagel shop, can’t be registered federally at all.
Can another business use the same name as my trademark?
It can, when the goods or services are not related. A trademark covers how you use the name with your goods or services, not the word in general. That is how Dove soap and Dove ice cream bars are both registered, with different owners.
Do I need a lawyer to trademark my business name?
Not if you are domiciled in the United States; applicants domiciled abroad must use a U.S.-licensed attorney. The USPTO lists what an attorney can do, from the clearance search to answering its letters, and warns that filing companies are not law firms.
Sources
Sources from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), read on November 6, 2026: What is a trademark? Why register your trademark? Trademark, patent, or copyright. Strong trademarks. Trademark scope of protection. Likelihood of confusion. Search our trademark database. Apply online. Do I need an attorney? How long does it take to register?