Guide 14 · Three instruments, one word: “name”
DBA, state trademark, federal trademark: which one a founder actually needs
“I registered my name” can mean three legally different things, and confusing them is expensive in both directions: founders pay for registrations that give them no rights, and founders who believe a DBA protects their brand discover — usually in a dispute — that it never did. This guide separates the three instruments: what each one is, what rights it actually confers, what it costs at the government window, and the rule for deciding which one your company needs.
On this page
- The three instruments, side by side
- The DBA: a name you operate under, not a right you own
- The state trademark: real rights, one state wide
- The federal registration: the national instrument
- USPTO filing basics: costs and the real timeline
- Which one you need: a working rule
- What Sethhost does — and does not do
- Reading is step one. The paperwork is the rest.
The three instruments, side by side
| DBA (trade name) | State trademark | Federal trademark (USPTO) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A public registration that your legal entity does business under a different name | A registration of a mark used in commerce within one state | A registration of a mark used in US commerce, on the federal register |
| Exclusive rights | None. It stops nobody from using the same name. | Exclusive rights to the mark within that state, for the registered goods or services | Nationwide priority and the right to exclude later users across the US, plus the ® symbol |
| Filed with | The state or the county, depending on the state | That state’s Secretary of State (or equivalent) | The US Patent and Trademark Office, through Trademark Center |
| Government fee | Set locally; commonly $10–$100 | Set by the state; commonly $50–$100 per class | $350 per class at filing, plus the surcharges and later fees below |
| Term | Commonly 5–10 years, renewable; lapses quietly if not renewed | Commonly 5 or 10 years, renewable | 10 years, renewable in 10-year terms, with a maintenance declaration due between years 5 and 6 |
The one-line version: a DBA is paperwork about a name, a trademark is a right in a name, and the federal registration is that right at national scale. A formation filing is none of the three — forming an LLC reserves the legal name only against other entity filings in that one state’s registry, and confers no trademark rights at all.
The DBA: a name you operate under, not a right you own
DBA — “doing business as”, also called a trade name, fictitious business name, or assumed name — exists so the public can trace a trading name back to the legal entity behind it. Your company needs one when it will operate under a name different from its legal name: invoices, contracts, a storefront, or a bank account titled in the brand rather than in “Example Holdings LLC”. Banks routinely require the DBA registration before opening an account in the trade name, which is the most common practical reason founders file one. Filing is with the state in some states and the county clerk in others (California’s fictitious business name statement is a county filing, and adds a newspaper-publication requirement within weeks of filing). What a DBA never does is protect anything: another business may register the same DBA tomorrow, and the DBA gives you no claim against a competitor’s identical brand. If protection is the goal, the DBA is the wrong instrument no matter how official the certificate looks.
The state trademark: real rights, one state wide
A state trademark registration is a genuine trademark — exclusive rights to the mark for the registered goods or services — with two limits that define it: the rights stop at the state line, and the mark must already be in use in that state’s commerce to register. For a business that will only ever trade locally — a regional service company, a single-state retailer — it can be the proportionate instrument, and it is the cheapest real right on the table. For a company selling online or across state lines, which describes most companies Sethhost forms, the state registration leaves the brand unprotected in the 49 states where the customers actually are, and it does not reserve anything federally while the company grows into a federal filing.
The federal registration: the national instrument
A federal registration with the USPTO is the instrument most founders mean when they say “trademark”. It provides nationwide priority as of the filing date, the right to use ® (the ™ symbol, by contrast, is an unregistered claim anyone may assert), a public record that later applicants’ examiners cite against them, access to federal court, and the ability to record the mark with US Customs against counterfeit imports. Two filing bases matter to foreign founders. Use-based applications cover a mark already in use in US commerce, with dates and specimens of use. Intent-to-use applications reserve a mark before launch: the filing date locks the priority, and the registration issues only after the mark is actually used and a statement of use is filed. A founder’s home-country registration can also support a US application under the Paris Convention — a route a US trademark attorney can evaluate; it is one of several reasons the filing strategy for a foreign-owned brand is attorney work rather than form-filling.
One rule foreign founders must know before budgeting: since 2019, the USPTO requires any applicant whose domicile is outside the United States to be represented by a US-licensed attorney in USPTO proceedings. There is no DIY federal filing for a non-US-domiciled founder, and filings made in disregard of the rule can be voided.
USPTO filing basics: costs and the real timeline
Government fees, per the USPTO fee schedule in force since January 18, 2025 (all filings now run through Trademark Center; the old TEAS Plus/Standard tiers are retired):
| Item | Fee (per class) |
|---|---|
| Base application | $350 — for a complete application using the pre-approved wording of the USPTO’s ID Manual for goods and services |
| Surcharge: insufficient information | +$100 — charged when required information is missing at filing |
| Surcharge: free-form description | +$200 — charged when goods or services are described in your own words instead of ID Manual entries, plus $200 for each additional 1,000 characters |
| Statement of use (intent-to-use filings) | $150 — paid when the mark enters use, before registration issues |
| Section 8 declaration of continued use | $325 — due between the 5th and 6th years after registration |
| Combined Section 8 declaration and Section 9 renewal | $650 — due before the 10th year, and each 10 years after |
Attorney fees for the search, the application, and prosecution sit on top of the government fees and are the larger part of most budgets. The timeline deserves the same honesty as the costs: examination does not begin for several months after filing, office actions (examiner objections or refusals — a likelihood-of-confusion citation against an earlier mark is the common one) are a normal part of prosecution rather than a catastrophe, and a clean application typically takes the better part of a year or more from filing to registration. A trademark search before filing — the USPTO’s own records plus common-law uses — is what keeps those months from being spent on a mark that was never available. Registration, once granted, is maintained rather than owned outright: miss the Section 8 window and the registration is cancelled, however long the brand has used it.
Which one you need: a working rule
- You trade under a name different from the legal entity’s name — invoices, accounts, or contracts in the brand: file the DBA. It is a compliance filing, cheap and usually quick, and banks may require it.
- Your business is and will remain local to one state, and the name matters commercially: a state trademark is a proportionate real right.
- You sell, or will sell, across state lines or online — the default for an internet business: the federal registration is the instrument that matches the risk, filed as early as intent-to-use allows, because priority runs from the filing date.
- You have done none of them yet: using ™ and keeping dated records of first use costs nothing and is worth doing while the filings are decided. What is not worth doing is treating a DBA certificate or a state entity filing as brand protection — in a dispute they will not function as any.
What Sethhost does — and does not do
Sethhost’s scope here is the paperwork layer. At formation we check the legal name against the state’s entity registry — availability for filing, which is all that check has ever meant — and a DBA filing is paperwork we can prepare and file at your direction, at the state or county fee at cost, where a trade name is part of your setup. Trademark prosecution is different in kind: a federal application for a foreign-domiciled founder legally requires a US-licensed attorney, clearance searching and registrability opinions are legal judgment, and Sethhost is not a law firm. We will tell you plainly when a question has crossed from paperwork into trademark counsel’s territory — and the earlier that conversation happens relative to printing, packaging, and launch, the cheaper every option stays.
Sethhost is not a law firm and does not provide legal or tax advice. This guide is general information, not advice about your situation. Trademark clearance, registrability, and enforcement are a licensed attorney’s work; legal questions go to your own attorney.
Reading is step one. The paperwork is the rest.
Sethhost handles formation paperwork, the EIN workflow, registered agent service, your website, a US number, and a compliance calendar — one company, one bill. Hosted is $79 per month and formation is included in your first term; the state filing fee is always shown separately.