Register a US trademark from abroad

You can register a trademark with the USPTO from outside the United States. Applicants whose domicile is outside the US must use a US-licensed attorney for the application. The requirement applies wherever you are based, so we explain how it works for your case before anything is filed.

Why a US-licensed attorney is required

The attorney represents you before the USPTO for the application. This is a USPTO requirement, not a choice we make on your behalf. It means that a US-licensed attorney is responsible for the filing, and that attorney is named in your engagement letter.

What we do and what the attorney does

Legal work is done by a US-licensed attorney named in your engagement letter. We handle the search, the coordination, the document collection and the deadline tracking, and we tell you what to expect at each step.

How we work with overseas clients

Email for documents, specimens and written questions, so there is a record of every decision.
Phone for decisions that need a conversation, booked at a time that suits your time zone.
A written confirmation of the name, the goods or services and the class before we file.
A status update when the USPTO acts, with the deadline and what it requires from you.

After filing

After filing, the USPTO reviews the application and sends its correspondence to the attorney handling it. We keep you informed of every letter, the deadline it sets and what it asks you to provide, so you do not have to watch the USPTO record yourself.

Keep your postal and email details current with us. A change of address can matter for notices, and it is easy to forget when you have moved countries.

Most of the work moves by email, so please keep one address for all messages, and tell us if it changes. For anything that is not urgent, email is usually the easier route when the time difference is large.

Time zones and office hours

Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Email is the fastest way to reach us outside those hours, and we reply within one business day. For a call, tell us the times that suit you, and we will confirm one. We track every USPTO deadline on the US calendar and show you the date in your own time zone.

What to prepare

Your full legal name, or your company's legal name and the place it was formed.
The address in the country where you are domiciled.
The name or logo you want to register, as an image file if it is a logo.
The goods or services you sell, or plan to sell, in the US under the mark.
Whether you already use the mark in the US, or plan to start.

Send what you have, even if some items are missing. We will tell you what else we need before anything is filed.

Check the name first

Before you prepare anything, search the name. Our free name search checks it against USPTO records and tells you whether we see identical or similar marks in related classes. A search done early saves time on both sides. It shows whether the name needs changing before documents are prepared, which is easier to deal with before a filing starts.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Can you register a US trademark from abroad?