About tmarkmetric
Free, plain-English guides to U.S. trademarks — what to file, what it costs, and what goes wrong — for founders and small businesses doing it for the first time.
What We Do
tmarkmetric is a reading site. We write guides to the U.S. trademark process: how to clear a name, which Nice class you're in, what the USPTO charges, how to answer an Office Action, and how filing works abroad. Next to those sit brand stories about real trademark fights, and three data reports built from a June 2026 snapshot of USPTO bulk files.
We don't run a search engine of our own. When a guide tells you to check whether a name is taken, it sends you to the USPTO's free Trademark Search and TSDR, because that's where the current record lives. Think of us as the explainer you read before you file, not a replacement for the official record or a professional clearance search.
Who We Serve
Mostly founders and small-business owners about to name a product or file their first application, and marketers who need to know why legal keeps saying no to a name. Some readers already have a registration and want to know what's due at year five, or what a letter from a competitor's lawyer actually means. If you have a law firm on retainer, you probably need us less, though the cost and timeline pages tend to be useful to anyone budgeting a filing.
Where the Data Reports Come From
The figures in our data reports come only from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — the federal agency responsible for administering U.S. trademark law.
USPTO trademark data is a public record. We don't edit the substance of any record (mark, owner, goods and services, dates); we group the USPTO's status codes into simple labels such as "Registered" and "Pending", and we explain how below.
The dataset behind the reports is a snapshot loaded in June 2026 from two USPTO bulk XML files, with a small number of records added later through a search API. It is not updated continuously, so a mark's status may have changed since. It holds serial and registration numbers, mark text, owner names and states, filing dates, Nice classes, goods and services, and status.
It is not the full register, which runs to millions of filings. About three-quarters of our records are applications filed between January and early June 2026; the rest are mostly older registrations. Status comes from each record's USPTO status code, grouped using the USPTO's published status code table.
Correction (October 2026): until 13 October 2026, our import labelled most pending applications as "registered" and some registered marks as "dead", because it misread the USPTO status codes. We fixed the mapping, re-read the original USPTO files and corrected the affected pages and data reports. If you relied on a status shown here before that date, check it again. For any decision, confirm the current status on the USPTO's TSDR system.
Editorial Standards
The guides and insights cover how the U.S. trademark system works: the application process, Office Actions, Nice classes, the Madrid Protocol and filing abroad. The brand stories retell real trademark disputes. All of it is general explanation, not legal advice.
Fees, deadlines and procedures change. Where a page links an official source (the USPTO, the Federal Register, WIPO or a national trademark office), that source wins over our summary. Where a topic involves legal judgment rather than settled procedure, we say so and point readers to a licensed attorney.
Editorial Team
tmarkmetric's guides and insights are published by the tmarkmetric Editorial Team. The team is not a law firm and none of the content is legal advice.
Corrections Policy
When we find a factual error, or a reader points one out, we fix it. If the mistake could have changed someone's decision — a wrong fee, a wrong deadline, a wrong status — we say so on the page, as we did in October 2026 for our status data. Because USPTO procedures and fees change periodically, guides are reviewed and updated when rules, fee schedules, or classification standards are revised. To report an inaccuracy, contact info@tmarkmetric.com.
What We Are Not
tmarkmetric is an editorial site — not a law firm, not a filing service, not a trademark search tool, and not a substitute for professional legal advice.
Nothing on tmarkmetric constitutes legal advice. If you're filing a trademark application, responding to an Office Action, or facing infringement, consult a licensed U.S. trademark attorney.
Not Affiliated with USPTO
tmarkmetric is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the United States Patent and Trademark Office or any U.S. government agency. For official trademark searches, filings, and legal status, use uspto.gov directly.
Publisher & Platform Identity
Independent project
Based in Greece
USPTO.gov — public trademark register
Who Built This
tmarkmetric is an independent project. It started from a simple frustration: the rules for registering a trademark are public, but they're spread across the Lanham Act, the TMEP, fee notices in the Federal Register and a lot of forum posts that are out of date. Most first-time filers just want to know what to do, in what order, and what it will cost. That's what we try to write down.
The platform is self-funded and independent. There are no investors, no subscriptions, and no paywalls. The site is supported by advertising, which keeps it completely free. Questions, corrections, or feedback? Use the contact page — every message is read.