Helpful resources / Costs and fees
Are trademark fees refundable?
The question usually arrives after the refusal: the application failed, so does the money come back? For the USPTO's part of the bill the answer is almost always no, for a reason worth understanding before you file rather than after. Here is what is refundable, what is not, and how to avoid the question.
Written by Trademarky. Last checked September 5, 2026. 7 min read.
The fee pays for processing, not a result
The USPTO's own fee page puts it in one sentence: 'Generally, we don't refund fees.' It adds that filing an application does not mean the mark will register or, once registered, stay registered. The fee buys the work of examining what you filed, and that work is done whether the answer is yes or no.
The same logic runs through every later fee. The $150 Statement of Use fee pays for the review of your specimen, not for its acceptance; the Section 8 and Section 9 fees pay for the review of your maintenance filing; a notice of opposition fee pays for the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to open the case. None is a deposit against success.
The rule itself is Section 2.209 of the trademark rules in Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It allows the USPTO to refund a fee paid by mistake or in excess of what was required, and it says in so many words that a change of purpose after payment, such as deciding to withdraw an application, does not entitle anyone to a refund. A refund request must be made within two years of the payment.
What the USPTO does refund
'Mistake or excess' covers a short list of situations, all of them about the payment rather than the outcome:
- You paid twice for the same filing, for example after a form appeared to fail and was submitted again.
- You paid more than the schedule required: a fee for more classes than the application lists, or a paper-filing amount for an electronic filing.
- You paid a fee for a filing that was not required, or that the USPTO could not accept and did not process.
- A payment was refused or charged back. This one runs the other way: the USPTO adds a $50 processing fee, and the filing it was meant to pay for may wait until the fee is made good.
A refund request is made in writing to the USPTO, identifying the payment, the filing it was made for and why it was a mistake or an excess, within the two-year window. Refunds go back to the card that paid or to the deposit account. What the request cannot say is that you changed your mind.
The moments people ask, and the answer
| What happened | Refund? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The examining attorney refused the mark | No | The fee paid for the examination, which happened |
| The application was abandoned because no response was filed | No | The examination happened; the deadline was yours |
| You withdrew the application the week after filing | No | A change of purpose after payment is not a mistake |
| You deleted a class during examination | No | The class fee paid for that class to be examined |
| The Statement of Use was filed and the specimen refused | No | The fee paid for the review of the statement |
| An extension of time was bought and then not needed | No | Not using it is a change of purpose |
| A Section 8 declaration was rejected or the goods were cut back | No | The fee paid for the review |
| An opposition or cancellation was withdrawn or settled | No | The proceeding was opened when the fee was paid |
| You paid twice, or for the wrong number of classes | Yes, on request | A fee paid by mistake or in excess of what was required |
Two of these deserve a second look before you act. Withdrawing an application refunds nothing, so when the problem is a refusal there is often more value in amending than in abandoning: narrowing the goods, disclaiming a word or moving to the Supplemental Register keeps the fee working. And an abandoned application can sometimes be revived by petition, for a further fee, when the failure to respond was unintentional; trademark office actions explains the window.
Attorney fees and guarantees
The attorney's fee is a contract, and what happens to it on a refusal is whatever the contract says. An hourly fee buys hours, and the hours were spent. A flat fee may or may not include a promise. Where a provider advertises a guarantee, read what it covers: most are narrow by design, many exclude descriptiveness refusals, every one excludes the USPTO's fee, and some offer a second filing rather than money.
Trademarky's terms are these. The attorney fee ($450 for the first application, $300 for each further one in the same order) is covered by a money-back guarantee: if the USPTO refuses the application because of a conflicting mark that our comprehensive search should have found, the attorney fee is refunded. It is not refunded for refusals on other grounds, such as a descriptive name or inaccurate information supplied for the application, and the $350 USPTO fee per class is passed through at cost and is never refundable once filed. The pricing page has the full terms and the FAQ the short version.
Whoever you file with, the questions are the same: what exactly triggers the refund, what is excluded, whether the remedy is cash or a refiling, and who does the search the guarantee depends on. Do I need a trademark attorney? has the longer list.
Fees that are not USPTO fees at all
Once an application is filed, its details are public, and private companies mail and email applicants invoices that look official: for 'registration', 'publication', 'monitoring' or 'renewal', often with a deadline and a seal. Money paid to them is not a USPTO fee, buys nothing the USPTO recognizes and cannot be refunded by the USPTO. The USPTO keeps a page on recognizing common scams with examples.
The tells are consistent. Real USPTO correspondence comes from an address ending in uspto.gov, quotes your serial number and never asks for payment by wire or gift card. Every real fee appears on the USPTO's fee page, and the only maintenance fees are the Section 8, 9 and 15 filings that trademark maintenance and renewal describes. Entry in a private 'register' or 'directory' has no legal effect anywhere.
How not to pay for nothing
Since the fee does not come back, the work is in spending it once, on an application that can succeed:
- Search before you file. The free check screens U.S. trademark records for exact and similar marks in seconds, and the comprehensive search your attorney reviews before filing reaches the state and common-law records the screening does not. A conflict found before filing costs nothing; found after, it costs $350 per class.
- Choose the classes deliberately. Each class is a separate fee and a separate specimen; a class you cannot prove use in is a fee spent on a refusal.
- Use the USPTO's ID Manual wording where it fits. A free-form description adds $200 per class and invites a requirement to reword it.
- Pick the filing basis honestly. Claiming use you do not yet have risks the registration later; filing on intent to use adds the $150 Statement of Use fee but keeps the claim true.
- Calendar every deadline. A missed office action deadline abandons the application and its fees; an extension costs $125 and a petition to revive $250.
- Answer the whole office action. A response that misses one issue leaves the refusal standing and the fee spent.
The check is free and the filing fee is not refundable, which is the whole argument for running the check first. Check my trademark for free
Questions about this topic
Can I get a refund if I withdraw my trademark application?
No. The USPTO's rules say that a change of purpose after a fee is paid, including a decision to withdraw an application, does not entitle the applicant to a refund; the fee paid for the processing of the application, which began when it was filed. If the reason for withdrawing is a refusal, amending is often worth more than abandoning.
Is the Statement of Use fee refunded if my specimen is rejected?
No. The Statement of Use fee pays for the USPTO to review the statement and the specimen, and that review is what produced the refusal. You can respond with a substitute specimen that shows use as of the date claimed, without paying the fee again, and the refusal is answered in the ordinary way. What is not refundable is the fee already paid.
How do I ask the USPTO for a refund of a duplicate payment?
Make a written request to the USPTO identifying the payment, the filing it was made for and why it was a mistake or in excess of what was required, within two years of the date the fee was paid. A duplicate payment for the same filing is the clearest case the rules allow, and the refund is credited to the card or deposit account that paid.
Related guides
- How much does a trademark cost?: What a U.S. trademark costs: the $350 USPTO fee per class, attorney fees, the later filings that keep a registration alive, and what is refundable.
- Trademark office actions: what they are and how to respond: What a USPTO office action is, the three-month response deadline, the most common refusals, how a response is prepared, and what happens if you miss it.
- Do I need a trademark attorney?: When a U.S. trademark applicant must use an attorney, what an attorney changes, when filing yourself is reasonable, and how Trademarky's flat fee works.
This guide is general information to help you understand the process. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice on your own mark, talk to an attorney on a free call.
Contact
Trademarky, LLC, 78 SW 7th St, 5th FL, Miami, FL 33130. (305) 562-6800, hello@trademarky.io. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ET. Available by appointment.
This free check is an AI-assisted preliminary screening against known U.S. trademark records. It is not a comprehensive clearance search and not legal advice. Only a licensed attorney can advise you on whether to file.