How much does a trademark Office Action response cost?

Who this is for

Anyone holding a USPTO Office Action and trying to work out what responding will cost, whether the original application was filed by this firm, another attorney, a filing service, or by the applicant personally.

The short answer

Responses start at $595. The final figure depends on five things, all of which are assessed before you are quoted: the refusal itself, the existing application record, the evidence required, the remaining deadline, and whether the Office Action is final. You receive a flat-fee quote in writing before drafting starts, so the price is settled before the work is.

If this firm filed the application under a Full Filing, ordinary attorney work for a response to the first non-final Office Action is already included.

Why the same document can cost very different amounts

1. What the examiner actually raised

This is the single largest factor. Office Actions fall broadly into two groups.

Procedural or non-substantive requirements ask you to correct or clarify something: tidying the identification of goods and services, entering a disclaimer, confirming ownership or entity type, supplying a domicile address, or clarifying the mark description. These are usually the least expensive to answer because the path is defined and the work is largely drafting precision rather than argument.

Substantive refusals assert that the mark cannot register as filed. These require legal argument, often supported by evidence, and sit at the higher end.

Several issues in one Office Action is common, and the fee reflects the combination rather than the longest item alone.

2. The state of the existing record

An application that was carefully drafted usually needs a narrower response. One filed with an overbroad identification, an unclear filing basis, a questionable specimen, or the wrong owner named may require fixing those problems as well as answering the refusal. This is why responding to a refusal on an application filed elsewhere sometimes costs more than the refusal alone would suggest, and it is assessed during the review before you are quoted.

3. How much evidence is needed

Argument alone is sometimes enough. Other refusals are answered persuasively only with evidence: third-party registrations, dictionary and industry usage, marketplace materials, declarations, or proof of how a mark is used and perceived. Gathering and presenting that is often the largest single component of a substantive response.

4. How much time is left

Work that must be completed in days rather than weeks costs more to accommodate, and severely compressed deadlines may not be accepted at all. Bringing the Office Action in early is the cheapest thing you can do about the price.

5. Whether the Office Action is final

A non-final Office Action allows a full response addressing the issues. A final Office Action narrows the options, typically to a request for reconsideration, an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, or letting the application go abandoned. Work at that stage is quoted separately. See how to weigh a request for reconsideration against an appeal.

Deadlines, and the fees attached to them

For most applications filed under Sections 1 and 44, the response deadline is three months from the issue date of the Office Action. A single three-month extension can be requested, which takes the total to six months, but the request must be filed before the original three-month deadline expires. The USPTO fee for that extension request is $125.

Applications filed under Section 66(a) through the Madrid Protocol keep a six-month deadline and are not eligible for the extension.

Always work from the date printed on your Office Action rather than from a general rule.

USPTO fees, separate from attorney fees

There is generally no USPTO filing fee for the response itself. Government fees can still arise, and they are always separate from and additional to the attorney fee:

• $125 for a request to extend the response deadline, where eligible
• $350 per class if the response adds a class to the application
• A separate USPTO fee for a Notice of Appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

The cost guide sets out how these fit alongside the rest of the process.

Work that is quoted as its own matter

Some situations go beyond an Office Action response and are scoped separately rather than folded into a response fee:

• Negotiating a consent agreement or coexistence agreement with another owner
• Appeals to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and any further appeal to the Federal Circuit, covered on the trademark appeals page
• Oppositions and cancellation proceedings, covered on the TTAB page
• Petitions to the Director
• Refiling under a different basis or with a materially different mark

How you get a number

1. Submit the Office Action, or the serial number, through the Office Action review page.
2. John runs a conflict and fit check.
3. He reviews the Office Action and the application record in TSDR.
4. He assesses the evidence and the realistic options.
5. You receive a flat-fee quote in writing, before drafting begins.

A substantive opinion on the refusal comes after engagement, not before. The intake exists so the firm can evaluate fit and quote accurately, and submitting it does not create an attorney-client relationship or extend any deadline.

General information, not legal advice, and results cannot be guaranteed. Deadline and fee details last reviewed August 2026. Sources: USPTO, Response time periods; USPTO, Responding to Office Actions. Verify your own deadline on the Office Action itself.