USA Trademark Registration (USPTO)

No. Indian companies and individuals can directly apply to register a trademark with the USPTO without having a US address, US company, or US presence. However, under USPTO rules effective as of August 2019, all foreign-domiciled applicants must be represented by a licensed US attorney. You cannot file a USPTO application without appointing a US-licensed attorney as your representative. The attorney's address serves as the correspondence address. Our service connects you with qualified US counsel for this purpose.

Both are electronic filing options on the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). TEAS Plus costs USD 250 per class and requires the applicant to select all goods and services descriptions from the pre-approved USPTO ID Manual, to provide a valid email address, and to accept electronic correspondence. TEAS Standard costs USD 350 per class and allows custom descriptions of goods and services that may be more tailored to your business. Most Indian applicants use TEAS Plus to minimise costs by selecting appropriate pre-approved descriptions with professional assistance.

Yes. Section 44(d) of the Lanham Act allows an applicant who has filed a trademark application in a country with which the United States has a treaty (India qualifies under the Paris Convention) to claim the Indian filing date as the US priority date, provided the US application is filed within six months of the Indian priority date. This means if your Indian application was filed on 1 January 2025, you can file in the USA on any date up to 1 July 2025 and claim 1 January 2025 as your US priority date. This can be decisive in defeating conflicting applications filed by third parties in the intervening period.

An intent-to-use (ITU) application under Section 1(b) of the Lanham Act allows a company that has not yet commenced use of a mark in US interstate commerce to reserve the mark and obtain a filing date priority. After the application passes examination and is approved, the USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance. The applicant then has six months to file a Statement of Use showing actual use in US commerce, with extensions available in six-month increments for up to three years total. This is the most common filing basis for Indian companies that have not yet launched in the US market.

For a straightforward application without objections, the process typically takes twelve to eighteen months from filing to registration. The USPTO currently has an initial examination wait time of approximately two to four months. If an Office Action is issued, the response and re-examination add several more months. After approval by the examining attorney, the mark is published in the Official Gazette for thirty days of opposition, after which the certificate of registration is issued (for use-based applications) or a Notice of Allowance is issued (for intent-to-use applications). Complex cases with Office Actions or oppositions can take two to three years.

The examining attorney may issue an Office Action refusing the mark on grounds such as likelihood of confusion with a prior registered mark under Section 2(d) of the Lanham Act, descriptiveness or genericness of the mark under Section 2(e), or failure to function as a trademark. The applicant has three months from the date of the Office Action to file a response (extendable to six months for a fee of USD 125 per class per extension). A skilled response addresses each refusal with legal arguments and evidence. If the examining attorney maintains the refusal, a final Office Action is issued and the applicant can appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

As of 2024, the USPTO filing fees are USD 250 per class for a TEAS Plus application and USD 350 per class for a TEAS Standard application. If an extension of time to file a Statement of Use is needed after an Intent-to-Use allowance, additional fees of USD 125 per class per six-month extension apply, for up to five extensions. A Statement of Use filing costs USD 150 per class. Renewal of a US registration (filed between the 9th and 10th year and every ten years thereafter) costs USD 325 per class under TEAS Plus. All fees are set by the USPTO and are subject to revision.

Yes. A USPTO registration has a ten-year term from the date of registration. However, a Declaration of Use and Incontestability (combined Section 8 and 15 declaration) must be filed between the fifth and sixth year after registration to confirm continued use and to achieve incontestable status, which provides the registrant with stronger rights against certain defences in litigation. The registration is then renewed every ten years by filing a combined Section 8 Declaration of Use and Section 9 Renewal application between the ninth and tenth year. Failure to file the Section 8 declaration results in cancellation of the registration.

No. A USPTO registration provides protection only within the territory of the United States. It does not grant any rights in India or any other country. For protection in India, a separate application must be filed with the Trade Marks Registry under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. For multi-country protection, the Madrid Protocol system allows Indian trademark owners to file an international application through the Indian Trade Marks Registry designating multiple countries (including the USA) from a single application, which can be more cost-effective for broad geographical coverage.