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...
