Before you file your trademark application in the US, please review the points below to see when filing is not recommended.

  1. If you do not plan to sell your products under your trademark, please do not file your trademark in the US as proof of use of your trademark will be required before registration.
  2. Generic trademarks are not registrable. Please consider adding unique elements before filing such a trademark.
  3. Trademarks or slogans that are informational only are not registrable. For example: ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE and BLACK LIVES MATTER are not registrable.
  4. If a very thorough trademark search was not done, please save your money and don’t file. US is one of the most difficult jurisdictions to achieve trademark registration, so filing without a proper is the same as playing a lottery and hoping to win.
  5. If you are aware of a similar trademark or trademark search uncovered a potential obstacle, please do not file the original trademark but consider making some tweaks to make it more registrable.
  6. If you have not come up with an exact list of products that you are going to sell under your brand, but simply trying to get in the Brand Registry, please consider filing in a quicker country, like UK, Germany or EU. If you file for the wrong products or change products mid-registration, you will not be able to complete your registration since we will be unable to file proper Statement of use.
  7. If you only need a trademark for Amazon Brand Registry purposes, and nothing else. In this case, consider doing a fast-track trademark application in Germany, UK or EU.
  8. US trademarks are quite expensive since government fees are high and are paid per class. Additional fees are also possible if Statement of use needs to be filed. If you don’t have adequate budget, consider filing your US trademark application in a single class or don’t file at all.
  9. If you are a very local business and don’t have sales to another state (local restaurant or hair-dressing business) please don’t file a Federal trademark application. Instead consider filing a trademark application your State.

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