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Comment by auvi | Hacker News Reader

Could anyone please give a ballpark number for the costs related to trademarking?

I could be wrong, but if you're doing the application yourself, it's under $500 for filing. Chances are you'll need a lawyer, and that's under $1000; separate from filing.

You can easily do a trademark these days using services like LegalZoom for about $500 (includes the Federal fee). No separate lawyer necessary.

https://www.legalzoom.com/business/intellectual-property/tra...

The reason you may need the lawyer is when the USPTO disputes your application... multiple times. This probably depends on who's reviewing your application as well.

Or just do it yourself: https://www.uspto.gov/trademark

I've done that. I hold the trademarks ANIMATS (supplemental register), SITETRUTH, and DOWNSIDE. I have the domains "animats.com", "sitetruth.com", and "downside.com". Those were all obtained simply by filing directly with the USPTO. Unless you're in a crowded area of the namespace, trademarks aren't hard.

Owning a trademark gives you strong rights in domain name disputes. This is effective even if there's someone else who's a big name in a different business area. See ICANN's UDRP.

As mentioned above, there are also costs after you do the initial application, such as doing occasional searches to see if anyone else is infringing your mark. Also, if that search turns something up, maybe you can convince them yourself to stop doing it... if not then you spend $$$ on a lawyer and and there are more costs (which are then somewhat unpredictable ahead of time).

The USPTO has an application class that's $225. However, you have to agree to correspond only via email with USPTO.

I think it's a few hundred dollars.

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