Trademark Class 35: What It Covers, Who Needs It, and How to File

Trademark Class 35 is about advertising and business services. This includes running a retail store, providing management consulting, running a marketing agency, and administering payroll. This trademark class is likely where your trademark will be if your business does not sell a physical product, but provides a service that helps or runs a business. This class is among the most rapidly filed at the USPTO and the most frequently misfiled.

Trademark Class 35 comes up frequently and is very important during formation and compliance. When founders start their U.S. LLCs, trademark Class 35 is one of the first things they ask about when filing their trademark. The confusion is warranted. Trademark Class 35 covers a broad range of services, and there is not always a clear line between it and other classes. If a business owner makes a mistake and chooses the wrong class, they will be forced to pay the filing fees again.

The USPTO organizes goods and service applications into trademark classes to help with fees and searches related to trademark applications, and trademark Class 35 is “Advertising and Business.” As stated, it includes services that help the operation or management of a commercial undertaking. It also includes services that assist management in the business affairs of an industrial or commercial enterprise. By nature, definitions of trademark classes are designed to be broad. The USPTO receives more than 50,000 trademark applications related to Class 35 because it encompasses a large portion of service-based businesses.

What Services Actually Fall Under Trademark Class 35

Class 35 is broad, and it covers many different businesses and services. These include advertising (design, publishing, and distribution of advertising; services of public relations firms and marketing firms; product demonstrations; trade shows), business management (hotel and sports management), and business administration (human resource management, recruiting, payroll), and office functions (data processing, bookkeeping, secretarial, transcription, rental of office equipment). Also included are the business designations of retail stores and sites that sell via the Internet, but not the goods sold.

Examples of marks with a broad scope and registered under this class include TARGET (for retail department store services), PAYCHEX (for payroll services), and NIELSEN (for market research).

Ahead are examples of trouble areas for founders.

Online Retail and E-Commerce

Here, things are pretty straightforward. Running a store on Shopify or doing fulfillment through Amazon FBA means that your store is a service. Both online retail and e-commerce are included in Class 35. The merchandise you sell will fall under other classes of goods.

Consulting and Business Services

This group includes marketing agencies, business management consultants, HR service firms, and back-office outsourcing service providers.

Staffing and Recruiting Services

Platforms and firms that help businesses recruit employees fall under Class 35 and not any of the goods classes.

What Class 35 Does NOT Cover

Most of the time, these are the most common mistakes. Services that deal with the operation of a retail store fall under Class 35. However, goods that are sold in the store will not be protected. For example, if you run a clothing store and register your store name under Class 35, you have registered the retail service. Other businesses can use a confusingly similar store name and sell clothing, and it will not be a violation.

The same reasoning applies to the rest of the categories. Class 35 will not protect your software or your technology platform. Services that deal with business consulting or marketing also fall under Class 35 and not Class 42. For example, if your marketing agency built a tool to help clients, it would fall under Class 42.

Class 35 excludes certain services like the following:

Trademark Class 35 is the only category at the USPTO recognized as a coordinating class for all other classes. This means that if you are registering a trademark in most other classes, there is a good chance Class 35 also applies to what you are doing.

How to File a Trademark Under Class 35

All trademark applications are processed through the USPTO Trademark Center (formerly TEAS). From February 2020, applications can only be submitted electronically.

Step 1: Run a clearance search. Use the USPTO’s TESS database to identify any registered or pending Class 35 marks that may conflict with your proposed mark. Of all the costly errors an applicant can make, submitting a trademark application without performing a clearance search is the most egregious. If a competing prior registrant objects to your mark, or if the USPTO issues a likelihood-of-confusion refusal, you have lost time and money on filing fees and will likely have to undertake a costly rebranding. Conflicts can also arise from common law marks, business names, and domain names, even if they are not registered.

Step 2: Decide on your basis for filing. If you are currently using the mark in commerce in the United States, you file under Section 1(a) and include a specimen of the mark. If you are not currently using the mark but have a bona fide intent to use it, you file under Section 1(b) as an Intent-to-Use application.

Step 3: Draft specific service descriptions. Generic descriptions such as “business services” will result in an office action. Consider using the USPTO Trademark ID Manual to select a pre-approved identifier. Doing so not only saves time and effort by automatically populating the correct international class but also reduces the chance of an office action seeking clarification.

Step 4: Complete your application and pay the filing fee. The base application fee is $350 per class. This replaced the former TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard applications. Each class can trigger surcharges, meaning you may end up paying more. If the USPTO deems your application insufficient, expect an additional $100 per class. If you used free text to identify goods and services rather than the pre-approved ID Manual language, you will pay a $200 surcharge per class.

Step 5: Monitor your application. After submitting, watch for your filing confirmation and track the application using your serial number through TSDR, the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval portal. It will be approximately six months before you receive the first action. You will have three months to respond to an office action, extendable to six months for a fee.

Step 6: Publication and registration. When your trademark application is approved, the mark is published in the Trademark Official Gazette for a 30-day opposition period. If there is no opposition, the average total duration is between 12 and 18 months. An office action or opposition extends the timeline to 24 months and beyond.

Common Mistakes Founders Make with Trademark Class 35

Filing in the wrong class. This is more common with founders of service-based businesses. If you provide staffing services, you may be tempted to look at Class 7 (machinery) or Class 9 (software). If you are not providing goods and have no intention to, do not file in any of Classes 1 through 34.

Omitting Class 35 for a retail business. Founders of product-based businesses sometimes overlook Class 35, unaware that selling a product involves a service. If you own your own retail business, online or offline, and are not filing in Class 35, you may be leaving that part of your business unprotected.

Using unclear service descriptions. “Advertising and marketing services” is too broad. The examining attorney will reject the filing. It will cost time and money to address the request for clarification in an office action.

Filing only for current services. Your registration is limited to the services you file for. The classes you pick in your application should represent the ultimate version of your services. You cannot select a class simply because you think it may apply in the future. Think 12 to 18 months ahead and include services you are actively working toward, provided you have a genuine intent to use them.

Ignoring related classes. If other companies register similar trademarks in Class 42 while you are only registered in Class 35, you would have very limited options to respond. Consider your entire business model before you file.

FAQ

Does Class 35 include an online store?

Yes. An online retail business is a service business and is therefore included in Class 35. The goods that you sell in that business will have to be registered in the appropriate class.

What is the cost for a Class 35 trademark in 2026?

The base filing fee is $350 per class as of January 2025. There will be an additional charge of $100 or $200 per class if the application is incomplete or does not use a service description as set forth in the USPTO ID Manual.

How long will it take to register a Class 35 trademark?

In a normal scenario, it will take 12 to 18 months to register a trademark. If complications arise during the process, it may take 24 months or longer.

Can someone who does not live in the U.S. file a trademark in Class 35?

Yes, non-resident founders can file with the USPTO. Applicants based outside of the U.S. are required to have a U.S.-licensed attorney represent them. This has been a rule since 2019.

What is the difference between Class 35 and Class 42?

Class 35 covers business services and advertising services. Class 42 covers services related to science and technology, including software development, cloud hosting, and IT services. You may need to consider both classes if your agency also builds a proprietary software tool.

What specimen do I need to file under Class 35?

Accepted specimens include screenshots of your website showing your service mark in connection with your services, as well as advertising and other digital promotional materials. Invoices are usually considered insufficient on their own.

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