You’ve spent countless hours perfecting your logo—the distinctive mark that captures your brand’s essence and sets you apart from the sea of competitors.
Like any valuable business asset, your logo deserves trademark protection. Bad actors can misappropriate your logo, with potentially devastating consequences for your brand reputation and competitive advantage.
The word “trademark” can feel like a heavy chunk of legalese, but securing protection for your logo doesn’t have to be the complex process you may fear it is. Here’s a walk through the essential steps of how to trademark a logo in the US, from conducting a thorough search to navigating the application process.
What is a trademark?
A trademark is a type of intellectual property (IP) protection that gives exclusive rights to distinctive words, phrases, symbols, design elements, or combinations of these. It’s used to identify and distinguish one party’s goods or services from those of others. Think of it as a brand identifier—it tells customers “this product or service comes from this specific company.”
Common examples of federal trademarks include the following:
- Business name: Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Disney, etc.
- Logo: Nike’s signature swoosh, or McDonald’s golden arches.
- Slogan: L’Oréal’s “Because you’re worth it,” or Arby’s “We have the meats!”
- Product name: iPhone, Whopper, Air Jordan, etc.
- Distinctive packaging: The shape of a glass Coca-Cola bottle, or Toblerone’s triangular box.
- Sound: NBC’s three-note chime, or Netflix’s “ta-dum” sound.
- Color: Tiffany’s specific shade of blue (Pantone 1837), or UPS’s “Pullman brown.”
All of these are “marks.” When you register a trademark, you get legal protection preventing others from using similar marks that might confuse customers about who is selling specific goods or services.
This protection applies to the specific category of goods or services you registered for (“classes”), and within the country that recognizes your trademark rights. This guide mostly covers the United States. For example, Delta Air Lines and Delta Faucet can coexist under US trademark law because they operate in completely different industries and are not likely to confuse consumers.
Trademark vs. copyright
When it comes to most logos, trademark and copyright protections serve different but complementary purposes:
- Trademarks protect your logo as a source identifier, stopping others from using similar marks that could confuse customers about who’s selling the goods or services. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) oversees trademark registration in the US.
- Copyrights can protect some of the artistic and creative elements of your logo as an original work of art, preventing others from copying the design itself, regardless of how they tend to use it. The US Copyright Office oversees copyright registration in the US.
In some cases, you can both trademark and copyright a logo. For example, if you design a unique and intricate dragon illustration for your company logo, trademark law prevents competitors from using a similar dragon mark to sell similar products, while copyright law prevents anyone from copying and using your dragon artwork for any purpose, even in contexts unrelated to your business.
Note that not all logos are copyrightable. Copyright law involves several factors that establish a minimum threshold of creativity and originality, which some logos are too simple or minimalistic to meet. Logos featuring geometric shapes, common symbols (like a plus sign or an arrow), or standard typography often fall short of this threshold.
Benefits of trademarking a logo
- Legal protection and enforcement
- Geographic expansion
- Brand value and asset creation
- Customer trust and professional image
- Online protection
- Avoiding costly rebranding
Here are the key benefits of trademarking your logo:
Legal protection and enforcement
A registered trademark gives you the legal right to stop others from using similar logos that could confuse customers in your market. Instead of relying on common-law trademark rights, which are limited and harder to enforce, you get clear documentation of your rights and can sue for infringement in federal court.
Geographic expansion
While unregistered trademarks only protect you in the state where you currently do business, a federal trademark registration gives you nationwide rights in the US. This is crucial if you plan to expand beyond your local area or sell online, preventing others from using your logo in areas you haven’t entered yet but plan to.
Trademark protection can also help internationally, sometimes. For example, the US is a party to the Madrid Protocol, a treaty that allows the trademark owner to file a single application to register their trademark in other countries.
However, enforcement of trademark rights can vary wildly from country to country. While both China and the European Union are part of the Madrid Protocol, rights enforcement for a US-based trademark owner is significantly easier in Europe than it is in China. If you plan on doing business in a country where trademark enforcement is difficult, it can be worthwhile to consult a local legal expert on strategy.
Brand value and asset creation
A registered trademark is a tangible business asset you can value, license, sell, or even use as collateral on loans. This can be particularly valuable if you ever want to franchise, sell your business, or seek investment. Many investors and potential buyers specifically look for businesses with protected IP.
Customer trust and professional image
The ® symbol that comes with federal registration signals legitimacy and professionalism to customers and partners. It shows you’re a serious business that invests in protecting its brand, which can help build consumer trust and differentiate you from less established competitors.
Online protection
A registered trademark protects your brand online by making it easier to win disputes over domain names, enabling you to remove counterfeit products from ecommerce platforms and strengthening your position against social media handle squatters.
Avoiding costly rebranding
Securing your rights early can help prevent another business from adopting a similar logo. This can save you from the disruptive process of rebranding, which can be extremely expensive—involving new signage, packaging, marketing materials, and possible loss of hard-earned brand recognition.
How to trademark a logo
- Conduct a preliminary search
- Conduct a comprehensive search
- Prepare your application
- File your application
- Monitor application status
- Respond to Office Actions
- Publish your mark
- Register your mark
- Maintain your registration
Here’s how to trademark your logo:
1. Conduct a preliminary search
Also known as a “knockout search,” start with a basic search of the USPTO database plus a general internet search to see if there are similar existing logos in your industry. Look for both identical and closely related product and service marks that could cause customer confusion before investing more time and money into trademarking your logo.
2. Conduct a comprehensive search
Consider hiring an attorney or intellectual property consultant to conduct a more thorough search. While this adds costs—usually around $1,000 to $2,000—it can help you avoid mistakes that could delay or derail your trademark application.
These professionals often have access to specialized databases and research tools that can uncover similar marks, including state registrations and common-law uses, that might not be immediately obvious. They can also help you compile and submit your application and help identify the appropriate classes for registering your trademark.
3. Prepare your application
To compile your USPTO application, you need:
- A clear image of your proposed mark
- A description of the goods or services the logo is associated with
- The date you first used the logo in commerce (or the date you intend to start)
- A filing fee ($350 per class of goods and services)
4. File your application
You can submit your application online through the USPTO’s Trademark Center for $350 per class.
5. Monitor application status
The USPTO can take up to six to eight months for initial review, which is why it’s helpful to start trademarking your logo before officially launching your business entity if you can. Track your application through the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) system.
6. Respond to Office Actions
The USPTO assigns an examiner—a government attorney—to your application, typically within three months after you file your application, but the exact timing can vary. If the examiner finds issues, they send you an “Office Action,” detailing the problems or requesting more information or materials.
You have three months to respond (extendable to six months for a fee). Common issues include the likelihood of confusion with existing trademarks, descriptiveness rejections, and technical problems with the application.
7. Publish your mark
If approved, but before it becomes a registered mark, your logo is published in the USPTO’s Trademark Official Gazette—a weekly USPTO publication—for 30 days, allowing others to review and possibly oppose it.
8. Register your mark
If no one opposes your trademark logo after publication, you receive a registration certificate. The entire registration process typically takes between 12 and 18 months, assuming no significant Office Actions are issued.
9. Maintain your registration
To keep your trademark protection alive, you must file maintenance documents between the fifth and sixth years of your registration, and then again every 10 years thereafter.
How to trademark a logo FAQ
How much does it cost to trademark a logo?
It costs $350 per class of goods to file your trademark application. Hiring an attorney to help you with the trademarking process could add a few thousand dollars to your total application fee.
How do I legally trademark a logo?
You legally trademark a logo by obtaining and maintaining a trademark registration certificate from the USPTO. To do this, you must complete and file a trademark application with the same office.
Is it better to copyright or trademark a logo?
It’s generally better to trademark a logo, because copyright registration is not available for all logos. You may have a unique logo but not one creative or original enough to meet the threshold legal requirements for copyright protection. However, in some cases, you can both trademark and copyright your logo.
Can you trademark a logo made with a generator?
You can technically trademark a logo made with a generator like Shopify’s free logo maker. However, because generators often use a preset library of simple and easy-to-replicate graphics, fonts, and colors, registering a generated logo may be an uphill battle. As opposed to an originally designed logo, it’s more likely that a generated logo bears confusing similarities with other logos already in use.
Can you trademark AI-generated logos?
The law on the copyright and trademark protectability of AI-generated works is evolving. It’s entirely possible that in the near future, a court could rule all non-human-generated logos unprotectable IP at the federal level.