The Costs of Brand Protection: International Trademark Maintenance and Renewal Costs

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Published on 10 October 2017

In the previous article, The Costs of Brand Protection: Trademark Application Filing Costs, we answered the question: "How Much Does it Cost to File a Trademark Application?" Once a trademark application has been filed and subsequently registered, the next question that arises before trademark practitioners is: "How Much Does it Cost to Maintain and Renew a Registered Trademark?" This is what shall be discussed in this article.

What is the Process for Trademark Maintenance in the U.S.?

Once a trademark has been registered in the U.S., the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) mandates the submission of a "Declaration of Use" Affidavit under Section 8. In this Affidavit, a trademark owner is required to declare that a registered trademark is currently in use in commerce, in connection with the associated goods or services. The first Declaration of Use Affidavit is to be filed between the fifth anniversary of the registration date and the sixth anniversary of the registration date, while the subsequent Affidavits can be filed at the time of renewing a trademark registration (combined filing under Sections 8 and 9).

Optionally, an Affidavit under Section 15 can also be filed. As per Section 15, the right of an owner to use a registered trademark in commerce, in connection with the associated goods or services, shall be deemed incontestable if the registered mark has been used continuously for five consecutive years subsequent to the registration date.

Where applicable, it is advisable to file combined Affidavits under Sections 8 and 15.

What is Trademark Renewal?

Like other forms of Intellectual Property, a trademark registration lasts only for a certain defined period of time, which is usually ten years (from the date of filing or the date of registration, as the case may be). For instance, in the U.S., the duration of a registered trademark is ten years from the date of registration. A renewal fee has to be subsequently paid to the USPTO to renew the trademark registration and to keep it in force for the next block of ten years. Subject to the prompt payment of renewal fees, a registered trademark has an indefinite life.

How Much Does it Cost to Maintain & Renew a Worldwide Trademark?

Let us now study the costs involved in maintaining and renewing a worldwide trademark. As is the case with other types of trademark costs, the costs are generally dependent on the number of classes of goods and services under which a trademark is to be maintained/renewed.

For the purposes of this article, we shall assume that an internationally registered word mark is to be maintained and renewed under two classes (Class 10 and Class 44, for instance) in the U.S. (priority country), in Brazil through the Paris Convention, and in eight other jurisdictions through the Madrid Protocol. The Madrid Protocol jurisdictions are: China, European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, and Turkey.

It costs an estimated $1,685 (including attorney charges) to maintain the registered word marks in the U.S. (i.e. to file combined Affidavits under Sections 8 and 15).

It costs approximately $2,000, including attorney charges, to renew the word marks in the U.S. and Brazil (Table 1). Likewise, the cost of renewing the international trademark registered under the Madrid Protocol is approximately $4,700 (Table 1).

The individual renewal fees for each of the eight jurisdictions under the Madrid Protocol range from $104 in Russia to $987 in the European Union (Figure 1).


With the exception of Russia, Switzerland, and Turkey, the other five jurisdictions charge an additional fee for renewing an international trademark registered under the Madrid Protocol in more than one class. This additional class fee is the same as that for renewing in one class in India, Japan, and South Korea. The European Union offers a 94% reduction on the fee for renewing in an additional class; in China, this reduction is 50%.

However, it is pertinent to note that the reduction in the European Union is applicable only for renewing in the second class, which is the same as that for filing a trademark application in a second class in the European Union. The fee for renewing in an additional class beyond the second class in the European Union increases three-fold from $57 to $170.

Trademark Cost Calculator

Interested in getting such costs calculated? The Global IP Estimator is Quantify IP's flagship software that can be used as an international trademark cost calculator to accurately estimate the worldwide trademarking costs for a single trademark family. The costs are estimated based on our meticulous research of trademark legislations in 150+ jurisdictions. Specific stages of the trademarking process can be included or excluded from the estimates.

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Venkatesh Viswanath (Senior Analyst, Quantify IP) contributed to this article.
Exchange Rates Used: 1 US Dollar = 3.14 Brazilian Real and 0.96 Swiss Francs