A registered logo protects only the exact design you file, so a redesign can leave you with a registration for artwork you no longer use. Knowing how to trademark a logo starts with the drawing you file with the USPTO, because the rules for describing the design, claiming its colors, and proving you use it all follow from that image. Most small businesses get more protection per dollar by registering the name in plain text first and adding the logo once the design has settled.
Is a Logo a Trademark?
Yes. Federal law defines a trademark as any word, name, symbol, or device, or a combination of them, that identifies the source of your goods or services. A logo you put on your products, packaging, website, or storefront is a trademark as soon as you use it to sell something.
Use alone gives you common law rights in the area where you do business. A federal registration adds the right to use the ® symbol and puts your logo in the federal database that examiners search when they review later applications. If you are still deciding whether a registration is worth it, the guide on whether you should trademark your business name covers the trade-offs, and the same reasoning applies to a logo.
Copyright can also protect the artwork itself as a creative work, separate from its use as a brand. The article on trademark vs. copyright vs. patent explains what each one covers.
Standard Character Mark vs. Design Mark
Every USPTO application includes a drawing, which is the image of the mark you want to register. You pick one of two drawing types, and you cannot pick both in the same application.
| Standard character mark | Special form (design) mark | |
|---|---|---|
| What you submit | Typed words, letters, or numbers | A JPG image of the logo |
| What it can contain | Latin letters, numerals, common punctuation | Stylized lettering, graphics, symbols, color |
| What it protects | The wording in any font, style, size, or color | Only the design as shown in the drawing |
| Mark description | Not needed | Required |
| Color claim | Not allowed | Required if you want color to be part of the mark |
The USPTO calls a standard character mark the broadest form of protection because the registration covers the words themselves. You can change your font, colors, and layout for years and the registration still fits.
A special form mark covers the particular depiction you file. This is the application you use for a stylized word, a symbol with no words, or a combined name and graphic. Use it when customers recognize the design itself.
How to Trademark a Name and Logo: File Together or Separately?
You have three choices, and each mark you file is its own application with its own per-class fee.
- File the name as a standard character mark. This is the strongest single filing for most businesses because it covers the name no matter how you display it.
- File the logo as a special form mark. This protects the design, including any words in it as they appear in the design.
- File both, as two applications. The name gets broad protection and the logo gets protection for its graphic elements.
If you file the name and graphic together in one special form drawing, the registration protects the name only as it appears inside that design. If you later drop the graphic or change the lettering, the registration no longer matches what you use. If another company uses your name in a different font with no graphic, you are arguing from a registration for a logo instead of a registration for the word.
If your budget covers one application, file the name in standard characters. Add the logo later if the design itself is a selling point, such as a symbol customers recognize without the name next to it. The steps for the name filing are in the guide on how to trademark a business name, and the fee math for one application versus two is in the breakdown of how much it costs to trademark a name.
A slogan is a separate mark, so to protect a logo and a slogan, file the slogan in its own application, usually in standard characters, and keep it out of the logo drawing unless it always appears inside the design.
How to Trademark a Logo: Filing the Application
You file through the USPTO’s online application system, in this order:
- Finalize the design. Do not file a logo you expect to change in the next year or two.
- Search the USPTO database for similar marks, including design marks with similar images, for related goods and services.
- Decide whether to file in black and white or in color (see the next section).
- Save the logo as a JPG that meets the USPTO image specifications.
- Choose your classes and write the goods and services description. The guide to trademark classes explains how to pick them.
- Write the mark description and, if you claim color, the color claim.
- Choose a filing basis: use in commerce, with a specimen, or intent to use, with the specimen filed later.
- Pay the fee for each class and submit.
The USPTO specifications for a special form image are:
| Requirement | USPTO guidance |
|---|---|
| File format | JPG only, no zipped or compressed files |
| File size | 5 MB or smaller |
| Resolution | 300 to 350 dots per inch (recommended) |
| Dimensions | 250 to 944 pixels in length and width (recommended) |
| Color mode | RGB for color marks (not CMYK) |
| Background | Black on white for non-color marks; color on white for color marks |
Crop the image so it shows only the mark. Leave out the TM or ® symbol, taglines you are not registering, and any product photo or background around the logo.
Describing the Logo and Claiming Colors
A special form application must include a mark description: a short, accurate statement of everything in the drawing, including all words, all design elements, and where any colors appear. The description can mention only what is in the drawing. An examiner will ask you to fix a description that leaves out an element or names something that is not there.
If you file in black and white with no color claim, color is not part of the registered mark. A USPTO training episode on drawings says most applicants with design marks file in black and white because it gives them the most flexibility as the business changes. The description should not mention color at all.
If you file in color, you must include:
- A drawing in color on a white background.
- A color claim that says color is a feature of the mark and lists every color.
- A color location statement that says where each color appears.
You must claim every color in the drawing, including black lettering, and use plain color names such as red, blue, and yellow. White or gray that is only background, outlining, or shading must be identified as not part of the mark.
Claim color only when the color is how customers recognize you, such as a brand known for one shade on its packaging.
Logo Specimens the USPTO Accepts
A specimen is proof of how you use the mark in commerce. For a logo, the specimen must show the design as it appears in your drawing. If your drawing has a graphic and a word and your specimen shows only the word, or shows a different version of the graphic, the examiner refuses the specimen.
Acceptable specimens include:
- For goods, a photo of the logo on the product, a label, a hangtag, or the packaging
- For services, an advertisement, brochure, or screenshot of a webpage that shows the logo with the services you offer (webpage screenshots must include the URL and the date you accessed or printed the page)
The USPTO rejects printer’s proofs, digitally created or altered images, and mock-ups of products you have not sold. A logo file on its own is not a specimen, because it shows the design without showing it in use with your goods or services.
Why Logo Applications Get Refused
| Refusal | What it means for a logo |
|---|---|
| Likelihood of confusion | Your design, words, or overall look is too close to a registered mark for related goods or services |
| Drawing and specimen do not match | The specimen shows a different version of the logo, or only part of it |
| Incomplete or inaccurate description | The mark description leaves out an element or describes something not in the drawing |
| Incomplete color claim | The drawing is in color but the claim is missing, or leaves out a color |
| Ornamental use | The logo appears only as decoration, such as a large graphic across the front of a shirt, instead of as a brand |
Description and color problems are usually fixed with a short written response. A likelihood of confusion refusal needs legal argument, and a trademark attorney is the right next step if you receive one. Each office action adds a round of waiting, and the guide to how long it takes to get a trademark lays out the full timeline.
What Changing Your Logo Later Means for Your Registration
The USPTO does not allow a material alteration of a mark, before or after registration. The test is whether the change would require the mark to be published again so others could oppose it. An amended logo must give essentially the same impression as the one on file.
Small changes can go through a Section 7 request to amend the registration, with a new specimen showing the updated logo for each class. Dropping a TM symbol or adding punctuation is the kind of change the USPTO treats as minor. Adding or deleting significant words or design elements is a material alteration, and changing any color in a mark that claims color is a material alteration too.
A real redesign, with a new symbol, new lettering, or a new color scheme in a color-claimed mark, needs a new application. The old registration survives only while you keep using the old logo, because each maintenance filing requires a sworn statement and a specimen showing current use. A standard character registration for your name keeps covering the words through every logo change.
Before a redesign launches, file the new logo so the application is in examination while the old one is still in use.