When to file your Michigan trademark (before or after launch?)

Drop the merch then you start to see lawsuits / file the trademark before they bite through your boots.

The right time to file your trademark is before you need it. Vetements found that out the hard way — by the time they tried to register their U.S. trademark, another company had already locked the name in Class 25 (apparel). Vetements lost the U.S. mark and ended up paying the squatter to release it.

That's an expensive lesson. Here's how to avoid it. At ELN Law, our trademark practice handles federal USPTO filings for Michigan founders, creators, and brand builders every week.

You can file before you've made a single sale

It's called an "intent to use" filing (1B application). The USPTO lets you reserve your trademark before you've launched, and you get up to three years to actually start selling under the mark.

This is one of the most under-used tools in trademark law. Most founders wait until they've already invested in branding, packaging, merch, and a website — and only THEN start thinking about trademark protection. By that point, someone else may have filed first.

The intent to use filing gives you priority based on your filing date, even if you don't start selling for another two years.

Federal protection is national. State protection isn't.

Some founders register a trademark with the State of Michigan under the Michigan Trademark Act, MCL 429.31 and assume they're protected nationally. They aren't.

Michigan trademark protection covers Michigan. If you sell online (and most modern businesses do), you need federal protection through the USPTO. The cost difference is meaningful — state filing might be $50-100, federal is around $250-350 per class plus attorney fees — but the protection difference is the entire country versus one state.

You can search existing trademarks in the USPTO Trademark Search system (TESS) before filing to confirm your mark is available.

For 95% of Michigan founders building anything beyond a hyperlocal service, federal is the move.

The cheapest mistake is filing early. The most expensive is filing late.

The USPTO filing fee alone is $250-350. That's the cost of a single billable hour at most Michigan firms. The cost of trademark litigation — once someone else has filed your name and you have to fight to recover it — starts at $30,000 and goes up from there.

Filing early when nothing happens means you're out a few hundred dollars. Filing late when something happens means you might lose the name entirely or pay a squatter to release it.

When to call ELN

If you're launching a brand, releasing merch, or building anything with a distinctive name — a trademark consultation should happen before the launch, not after. We help Michigan founders file federal trademark applications and walk them through what's actually protectable (and what isn't).

If you're juggling brand protection with a contract review at the same time (common for music releases and product launches), see our contract drafting and review service as well — many trademark issues start as poorly-drafted distribution or licensing contracts.

Comment "TM" on any of our social posts and we'll DM the filing checklist. Or schedule a trademark consultation directly.