Trademark Registration Cost Calculator

How to Use the Trademark Registration Cost Calculator

This calculator helps you estimate the full lifecycle cost of registering and maintaining a trademark, based on your own fee schedule. It is designed for solo attorneys, small firms, in‑house teams, and informed business owners who want a transparent cost breakdown before filing.

Because official government fees and professional rates change, you enter your current filing and service fees. The tool then combines them into a single estimate for filing, potential office actions, and optional maintenance at 5 and 10 years.

What Each Input Field Means

Filing inputs

• Number of classes – How many Nice classes you plan to include in the application. More classes generally mean higher government fees and higher maintenance costs.
• Filing fee per class ($) – The government filing fee per class (for example, a USPTO TEAS Standard or local equivalent per‑class fee).
• Clearance search cost ($) – Your expected cost for any preliminary or full trademark clearance search, if you perform one.
• Attorney fee (prep/filing) ($) – Professional fees for drafting, preparing, and filing the application (flat fee or blended estimate).

Office action scenario

• Office action probability (%) – Your estimated likelihood that the application will receive at least one substantive office action (for example, 25% or 40%). This is an estimate based on your experience or practice data.
• Office action response cost ($) – The average professional fee you expect to charge (or pay) to respond to a typical office action for this application.

Maintenance options

Trademark rights can last indefinitely if renewed, but most systems require declarations and/or renewal filings at specific intervals.

• Maintain through – Choose one of the following planning horizons:
  • Registration only (no maintenance) – Estimate costs just through initial registration, ignoring post‑registration filings.
  • 5 years – Include your estimated 5‑year maintenance or declaration filing costs (for example, a Section 8 filing in the U.S.).
  • 10 years – Include estimated 5‑year and 10‑year maintenance/renewal costs (for example, a combined Section 8/9 filing).
• Maintenance fee at year 5 per class ($) – Expected per‑class government plus professional fee at the 5‑year mark.
• Maintenance fee at year 10 per class ($) – Expected per‑class government plus professional fee at 10 years (often the first 10‑year renewal).

How the Calculator Estimates Trademark Costs

The calculator focuses on three main cost components: filing, expected office actions, and maintenance.

Core filing cost

The basic filing cost is:

This gives you a baseline for getting the application on file.

Expected office action cost

Instead of assuming an office action will definitely occur, the calculator uses an expected value approach. The expected office action cost is:

For example, if the chance of an office action is 40% and a typical response costs $800, the expected office action cost is 0.40 × 800 = $320.

Maintenance and renewal costs

When you select a maintenance horizon, the calculator adds the relevant per‑class maintenance fees:

• At 5 years, it multiplies the 5‑year maintenance fee per class by the number of classes.
• At 10 years, it adds both the 5‑year and 10‑year per‑class maintenance fees, each multiplied by the number of classes.

Interpreting the Results

The output gives you a single estimated total, plus a breakdown if the implementation supports it. You can use this to:

• Budget internally for a new brand, product line, or rebrand.
• Set or validate flat fee packages for trademark services.
• Compare the impact of adding or removing classes from an application.
• Assess how aggressive assumptions about office action rates change overall cost.

Remember that the office action portion is an average expectation. Actual cases may be cheaper (no office action) or more expensive (multiple or complex refusals).

Worked Example

Consider a business filing a new mark in 2 classes. Assume the following inputs (using U.S.‑style numbers for illustration):

• Number of classes: 2
• Filing fee per class: $350
• Clearance search cost: $500
• Attorney fee (prep/filing): $1,200
• Office action probability: 35%
• Office action response cost: $900
• Maintain through: 10 years
• Maintenance fee at year 5 per class: $450
• Maintenance fee at year 10 per class: $700

Step 1 – Filing cost:

2 × 350 = 700 in filing fees. Adding $500 for search and $1,200 for attorney time gives a filing subtotal of $2,400.

Step 2 – Expected office action cost:

0.35 × 900 = $315 expected office action cost.

Step 3 – Maintenance costs:

Year 5: 2 × 450 = $900. Year 10: 2 × 700 = $1,400. Total maintenance through 10 years = $2,300.

Step 4 – Total estimated lifecycle cost:

$2,400 (filing) + $315 (expected office action) + $2,300 (maintenance) = $5,015 over the first 10 years.

This does not guarantee you will spend exactly $5,015, but it gives a structured budget estimate.

Comparison of Common Trademark Cost Scenarios

You can recreate each of these scenarios by adjusting the number of classes, attorney fee, office action assumptions, and maintenance horizon in the calculator.

Assumptions and Limitations

• Fee schedules change – Official filing and renewal fees may change, sometimes with little notice. Always verify the latest fee schedule from the relevant IP office.
• Attorney and professional fees vary – The calculator uses the values you enter. Actual quotes may be higher or lower depending on complexity, geography, and firm structure.
• Office actions are unpredictable – The probability and cost of office actions are estimates. Some applications may sail through, while others may require multiple responses or appeals that exceed your assumptions.
• Limited scope of costs – The model does not account for litigation, oppositions, coexistence agreements, foreign filings, corrections, or re‑filings due to refusal.
• No legal advice – This tool is for informational and budgeting purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney‑client relationship.
• Currency and jurisdiction – All amounts are assumed to be in the same currency, and the structure loosely follows systems like the USPTO. Other jurisdictions may have different timelines and requirements.

Use the outputs as planning guidance, not as a guaranteed quote. For case‑specific advice, consult a qualified trademark professional.

Why Trademark “Cost” Is More Than a Filing Fee

When people ask “how much does a trademark cost,” they often mean the government filing fee. That number is important, but it is only one piece of the real cost. Trademark registration is a legal process with optional steps (search, attorney review) and possible contingencies (office actions, oppositions). Even after you get a registration, you must maintain it with periodic filings. If you plan to build a brand, the total lifecycle cost matters more than the initial fee.

A practical cost estimate should answer these questions:

• How many classes will you file in? (Most filing fees are per class.)
• Will you pay for a clearance search and legal review to reduce rejection risk?
• How likely is an office action, and what is the expected cost to respond?
• How long will you maintain the trademark (5 years? 10+ years?), and what are the maintenance filing fees?

This calculator models those decisions transparently. Because government fees and common attorney price points change, the tool does not hard‑code a specific year’s amounts. Instead, you enter your fee schedule based on your jurisdiction or on the USPTO’s current fee table (for U.S. filings). The math then stays correct even when the numbers change.

Core Cost Components

Trademark costs can be grouped into three phases:

1. Preparation. Clearance search, specimen gathering, drafting description of goods/services, deciding classes.
2. Filing and prosecution. Government filing fees and potential office action responses.
3. Maintenance. Periodic renewals and declarations to keep the registration alive.

For many small businesses, the biggest controllable lever is the number of classes. Filing in two classes can roughly double government fees. But filing in too few classes can leave your brand unprotected where it matters. A cost model helps you make that tradeoff deliberately.

The Basic Formulas

Let:

• c = number of classes
• F = filing fee per class
• A = attorney flat fee (optional)
• S = search/clearance cost (optional)
• p = probability of an office action (0 to 1)
• O = cost to respond to an office action (average)
• M = maintenance fees (5‑year and 10‑year) per class

Upfront expected cost is:

If you plan to maintain the mark, you add maintenance filings. If maintenance fee per class is M₅ for year 5 and M₁₀ for year 10, then:

Worked Example

Assume you file in 2 classes. Your current filing fee per class is $350. You pay $600 for a clearance search and $900 for attorney preparation. You estimate a 35% chance of an office action and $700 average response cost. Maintenance fees (years 5 and 10) are $250 and $525 per class (illustrative; enter your actual figures).

Upfront expected cost: 2×$350 + $900 + $600 + 0.35×$700 = $700 + $900 + $600 + $245 = $2,445.

Maintenance through 10 years: 2×($250 + $525) = 2×$775 = $1,550.

Total 10‑year expected cost: $2,445 + $1,550 = $3,995.

This example shows why maintenance matters: even if registration is successful, lifecycle costs can rival the initial filing expense.

Comparison Table: Cost Drivers

Intent‑to‑Use vs Use‑in‑Commerce (Why Some Filings Cost More)

In some jurisdictions (including the U.S.), you can file based on actual use in commerce or based on a bona‑fide intent to use. Intent‑to‑use filings can add later steps and fees: you may need to submit a statement of use and pay additional per‑class fees once you begin using the mark. That means your “registration cost” might be spread over time and might be higher than a use‑based filing. This calculator does not assume one filing basis; if your process includes a later statement‑of‑use fee, include it in your maintenance or office‑action budget line items.

Oppositions and Conflicts

Even if you pass examination, third parties can oppose registration. Oppositions can be expensive because they resemble litigation: pleadings, discovery, and motion practice. Most small businesses never face an opposition, but when it happens it can dwarf filing fees. Because opposition probability and costs are extremely fact‑dependent, this calculator does not model them. If you operate in a crowded brand space (fashion, beverages, apps), consider adding an “opposition contingency” to your attorney budget.

Practical Tips to Reduce Cost

• Choose classes deliberately. Filing in unnecessary classes increases both initial and maintenance fees.
• Use a clearance process. A modest search expense can prevent expensive rebrands.
• Keep specimens and proof of use organized. Good documentation reduces response time and legal fees.
• Budget for maintenance. Many marks are lost simply because the owner missed a deadline.

Limitations and Assumptions

This calculator estimates costs; it does not provide legal advice. It assumes:

• You enter current filing and maintenance fees for your jurisdiction.
• Office action probability is your scenario input; real rates vary by mark strength and class.
• Oppositions, appeals, international filings, and enforcement are not included.
• Attorney fees vary widely; use your attorney’s quote if available.

Use the output to budget and to choose between filing strategies (classes, search, DIY vs attorney). For important brands, a qualified trademark attorney is usually worth the cost because early mistakes can be expensive to fix later.