No, you do not need a registered trademark to sell a product. You can launch tomorrow under any name that is not already taken, use the ™ symbol from the first sale, and build enforceable common-law rights without paying the USPTO anything. What you need before launch...
Every USPTO trademark fee is charged per class, not per application. That single rule drives the entire schedule. A base application in one class runs about $350. The same mark filed in three classes runs $1,050 at filing, and every maintenance filing for the rest of...
You cannot patent a name. Patents cover functional inventions and ornamental designs, not words. What you want is a trademark, and the process is a different USPTO office, a different fee schedule, and a different set of rules. Registering a product name federally...
Filing a trademark yourself costs about $350 per class in government fees. Doing it with an attorney costs $1,200 to $2,500 per class all in. Neither number is the real number, because a trademark is not a one-time purchase. Add an office action response, a statement...
A patent protects how your product works. A trademark protects what you call it. Those are two separate filings, at two separate USPTO offices, on two separate timelines, and one does not substitute for the other. A patent on a folding cargo hook stops a competitor...
An overseas piece price 35% below domestic usually lands 5% to 20% below domestic once you add freight, duty, customs fees, inventory carrying cost, quality inspection, and travel. On a 42-gram plastic part, a $0.38 quote from Asia against $0.62 domestic becomes $0.76...
Paying a mold fee does not give you the mold. Title passes only if a written agreement says it does. Without that language, the molder holds the physical tool, often claims ownership of the tool design, and in several manufacturing states can assert a statutory lien...
Resin sets 15% to 40% of a molded part’s piece price, and it sets nearly all of the failure modes. Polypropylene costs $0.75 to $1.15 a pound and shrinks 1.3% to 2.5%. Polycarbonate costs $2.00 to $3.10 and shrinks 0.5% to 0.7%. That shrink difference is why the...
Between 500 and 10,000 units, six manufacturing paths compete: powder-bed 3D printing, urethane casting, CNC machining, pressure-formed thermoforming, aluminum bridge tooling, and low-cavitation soft steel tooling. Bridge tooling wins most of the time. A $7,000...
A molder needs seven things to quote your part: a 3D solid model in STEP format, a 2D drawing with tolerances called out, a resin specification, estimated annual volume, order quantity, a finish and color spec, and a packaging requirement. Send all seven and you get a...
