Drawing of your trademark

Your application must include a clear “drawing” or depiction of the trademark you want to register. We also call a “drawing” a “trademark drawing” or a “representation of the trademark.” Federal trademark law requires that you provide a drawing with your application for us to assign the application a filing date and move it toward registration.

How are drawings used?

Once your application has a filing date, we upload the drawing of your trademark into our automated records. The public can view these records online using the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) and the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) databases. This publicly available information about your trademark may help you avoid subsequent legal conflicts.

The trademark that appears in your drawing will also appear on your registration certificate.

For more information about drawings, see the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) §807 and our Trademark Information Network video, “Drawing Issues.”

Which type of drawing should I use and which provides broader protection?

This decision depends on many factors, including the trademark you use most often with your goods or services, which words or designs are important for you to protect, and how much money you plan to spend on protecting the trademark.

For example, companies often separately register various components of a trademark that they use together and separately. A company might register its business name, a slogan, and a logo to ensure the broadest possible protection. This gives companies flexibility in their promotional matter, social media, and webpages to mix and match trademarks (sometimes using a slogan or design alone, or a design with the slogan) and still protect all their trademarks.

Some companies, however, can afford to register only one trademark, so they might focus instead on registering the one or two components they use most often and that are most important to their brand. Because this decision is important, an applicant may wish to hire a private attorney specializing in trademark matters.

Click on the headings below to learn about the two types of drawings, the protection each provides, and when a special form drawing is required.

The two types of drawings

Apply for one of the two types of drawings in your application:

1. A standard character drawing shows a trademark in text only (without a design) in no particular font style, size, or color.

Examples of standard character trademarks:¹ NIKE, TARGET, VW.

2. A special form drawing shows a trademark with stylization, designs, graphics, logos, or color. These are also called “stylized trademarks” or “design trademarks."

Examples of special form trademarks:²

The term NIKE with a curved band below it

A design of concentric circles representing a target or bullseye.

The design of a white V over a white W within a white circle on a blue circle

Apply for only one trademark per application, and include only one drawing. Generally, we will not assign your application a filing date or move it toward registration if your application has two or more drawings of different trademarks (or one drawing of multiple trademarks). For more information about the requirement for only one trademark, see the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) §807.01.

¹ These are registered as follows (from left to right): U.S. Registration Nos. 3081688, 5167255, and 2992649.

² These are registered as follows (from left to right): U.S. Registration Nos. 2209815, 5200640, and 3032408.

DISCLAIMER: References to particular trademarks, service marks, products, services, companies, or organizations appearing on this page are for illustrative and educational purposes only and do not constitute or imply endorsement by the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or any other federal agency.

Protection provided by a standard character vs. special form drawing

You must decide whether to apply for either a standard character drawing or a special form drawing, but you cannot choose both. If you register your trademark in standard characters, you will receive the broadest form of protection for your trademark because your registration will encompass the wording itself, without limiting the registered trademark to a particular font, style, size, or color. If you register your trademark in special form, your trademark will be protected only for the particular depiction you provided.

When is a special form drawing required?

You must submit a special form drawing when your trademark includes words, letters, or numerals presented in a way that creates an uncommon or "special" impression that would be altered or lost if only the text was registered.

A special form drawing is also required if you want your registered trademark to include specific colors or underlining, superscripts, subscripts, exponents, emoticons, or characters and symbols that are not in our standard character set (see also “Drawing requirements for color trademarks”).

Here are two examples where a special form drawing was required:

The trademark appears on the drawing as LABID (for use with prescription drugs) but on the specimen as LáBID. "BID" is a common abbreviation of the Latin “bis in die,” used with prescription drugs to mean twice a day. Standard characters would not convey that BID stood apart from the other letters because of the particular font style used on the specimen.
The trademark appears on the drawing as FOR LIFE INSURANCE SEE US (for insurance services), but on the specimen the "US" portion is underlined and appeared in much larger lettering. The actual use on the specimen suggests a double meaning, with “US” standing for both the applicant’s name "United Services" and the pronoun "us." Standard characters would not convey this double meaning.

For more information about when a special form drawing is required, see TMEP §807.04(b).

For more information about the protection provided by standard character and special form drawings, see 37 C.F.R. §2.52(a) and In re Calphalon Corp., 122 USPQ2d 1153, 1160 n.8 (TTAB 2017).

What are the requirements for drawings?

What matter must I explain on the drawing?

If you have a trademark that includes certain wording, lettering, numbering, or non-Latin characters, such as Chinese or Hebrew, you may be required to include an explanation of whether that matter has meaning in a specific trade or industry, geographic meaning, meaning in a foreign language, or requires a transliteration.

A trademark including wording, lettering, or numbering that could have meaning in a specific trade or industry or geographical significance requires an explanation of the meaning of that matter in the trademark. For example, if your trademark is NARÜKO 59K, you might be required to indicate whether the numbering has any meaning in your industry, such as denoting distance in miles, or any geographic meaning, such as the name of a city. You may also be required to explain if NARÜKO is a foreign word or transliteration of non-Latin characters.
A trademark including foreign wording in Latin characters requires an English translation. For example, if your trademark is FELIZ, which is the Spanish word for “happy,” you must provide the English translation. If you are requested to provide an English translation of wording that appears foreign but has no foreign meaning, you would need to respond that the trademark has no meaning in a foreign language.
A trademark including foreign wording in non-Latin characters requires a transliteration, which is the phonetic spelling of the pronunciation, in Latin characters, and an English translation of the transliteration. If the transliteration has no meaning in a foreign language, you would need to respond by saying so. For example, if your trademark consists of the Chinese characters, you must

provide a transliteration of the characters, which is AIMER, and an English translation of the transliteration, which is “love.”

Requirements for standard character drawings

You must submit a depiction of the trademark as well as a standard character claim.

The depiction must:

Show text only (no graphics, logos, or designs; no color or stylization)
Display the trademark in black on a white background
Show all letters and words in Latin characters (A-Z)
Show all numerals in Roman (VII, IX) and/or Arabic (0-9) numerals
Include only common punctuation (colon, dashes) and diacritical marks (accents, tildes).

The standard character claim

The standard character claim is a statement that the trademark consists of standard characters without claim to any particular font style, size, or color. This statement is automatically provided in the online initial application when you select “Standard Characters.”

For a complete list of all the characters and symbols you can use in a standard character trademark, view our standard character set. For example, standard character trademarks may include symbols such as the dollar ($) or Euro (€) sign; “at” sign (@); degree sign (°); ampersand (&); number, pound, or hashtag sign (#); or asterisk (*).

Standard character trademarks cannot include:

Underlining
Superscripts (like the “1” at the end of this line¹)
Exponents (like the “2” in MC²)
Subscripts (like the “2” in CO₂)

You cannot use a standard character drawing if your trademark includes any elements not found in our standard character set, or includes standard characters that form shapes or designs, such as emoticons.

Our databases will display a standard character trademark in a simple standardized typeface. For more information about standard character drawings, see the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) §§807.03-807.03(i).

Requirements for special form drawings

You must submit a depiction of the trademark as well as a description of the trademark.

The depiction must:

Display the trademark—if the trademark is not in color—in black on a white background, or—if the trademark is in color—in color on a white background (see “Requirements for color marks” below)
Display a high-quality image of the trademark drawing that reproduces well with all lines appearing clean, sharp and solid, and not fine or crowded.

To claim special form:

In addition to submitting a special form drawing that meets the requirements above, you must also submit a statement consisting of an accurate and concise description of everything appearing in the trademark: all text and design elements, and the location of any color, if relevant.

For example, the Target design mark of a bullseye³ in the section above called "How are drawings used?" includes the following description: “The trademark consists of concentric circles representing a target or bullseye design.” A description of your trademark cannot, however, include a registered trademark or elements not appearing in the trademark.

In the initial online application, if you select “Special Form,” you will enter the description in the text field following “The mark consists of:_________”

We will assign all design elements in your trademark a numerical “design code” from our Design Search Code Manual that enables us to properly search those design elements for conflicting design trademarks. The design code will appear in our databases.

For more information about special form drawings, see TMEP §§807.04-807.04(b).

³ This is registered as U.S. Registration No. 5200640.

Requirement for trademark in drawing to match trademark on specimen or foreign registration

Depending on your filing basis, the trademark in your drawing has to match the trademark on either your specimen or your foreign registration.

If your application was filed based on use in commerce under Section 1(a) of the Trademark Act, or you are now filing an allegation of use (AAU/SOU), the trademark in your drawing must show a “substantially exact” representation of the trademark on your specimen. With few exceptions, the trademarks have to match.
If the trademarks do not match, and the differences are material or significant (see below on changes to trademark after filing your application), you must submit a different specimen showing the trademark on the drawing or amend the application filing basis to intent-to-use under Section 1(b), (or withdraw the AAU) and submit a specimen (that matches) at a later date.
If your application was filed based on a foreign registration under Section 44(e), the trademark in your drawing must show a “substantially exact” representation of the trademark in your foreign registration. If the trademarks do not match, you must change your application basis to a Section 1(a) or 1(b) basis, if you can satisfy all the requirements. If you cannot, your trademark will not be permitted to register.

For more information about the requirement for the trademark in drawings to match the trademark on specimens or foreign registrations, see TMEP §807.12(a)-(b).

For more information on specimens and how to use the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) to submit a new specimen and amend the filing basis, see our specimen webpage.

Requirements if you change your drawing after you file your application

People often rely on our database of trademarks to see what trademarks have been applied for before selecting a trademark for their business, so federal law does not allow you to make any material or significant changes to the trademark in your drawing after you file your application.

Generally, adding or deleting significant text or design elements to your trademark is likely to be a material change and will not be accepted. For example:

A frankfurter with a face and arms wearing a hat.

Adding the wording MR. SEYMOUR to the hot dog design above would be a material change because it significantly changes the overall visual commercial impression.
Adding the letter “t” to TACILESENSE so that it reads TACTILESENSE would be a material change because it turns an otherwise meaningless word into a term consisting of the two words “tactile” and “sense.”
Adding a design of a crown and banner to the wording THE WINE SOCIETY OF AMERICA would be a material change because it significantly changes the overall visual commercial impression.

You can make changes to the trademark in your drawing only if the changes do not result in a trademark that is materially or significantly different from the trademark shown in the previously submitted drawing. If we find that the old and new forms of the trademark create the same overall impression, the changes are not considered material or significant and will be accepted.

We generally accept small, insignificant changes to the trademark drawing, such as:

Deleting a TM, SM, or ® symbol
Deleting extraneous informational matter (net weight or volume, lists of contents, company addresses)
Adding punctuation, such as quotation marks, hyphens, periods, commas, and exclamation marks (unless it significantly changes the trademark)
Changing a special form drawing from black and white to specific colors.

We generally don't accept changes to trademarks in drawings in requests for extension of protection to the United States filed under Section 66(a). International and U.S. federal law do not permit these types of trademarks to be amended.

For more information about changes to the trademark in drawings, see TMEP §§807.13-807.14, 1904.02(j).

Drawing requirements for color trademarks

If you have a color trademark, you must include in your application:

A special form drawing showing your trademark in color on a white background
A statement that color is a feature of the trademark, listing all the colors shown in your trademark, including black, white, and gray. For example, “The colors black and red are claimed as a feature of the trademark.” When listing colors, you must use common everyday color names to identify the colors in your trademark, such as pink, yellow, and blue.
A trademark description that identifies where the various colors appear in the trademark. For example, “The trademark consists of a black hat and a red heart with the words BLACK HAT CHOCOLATES in black stylized letters.” If black, white, or gray represent background, outlining, shading, or transparent areas and are not part of your trademark, you must include this information in your trademark description.

For more information about color trademarks, see TMEP §§807.07-807.07(g).

Drawing requirements for unusual marks

3D trademarks and trade dress (3D product design, product packaging, and for services) – you generally need to provide a special form drawing showing a single rendition of your trademark in three dimensions.
Motion or movement trademarks – you must provide a special form drawing showing a single point in the movement, or a square showing up to five freeze frames of various points in the movement of your trademark.
Scent trademarks – you must provide a standard character drawing with “scent mark” typed as the trademark.
Sound trademarks – you must select “sound mark” as your trademark type. You must then submit the actual sound of the sound trademark in a .wav, .wmv, .wma, .mp3, or .avi format that does not exceed 5 megabytes in size.

We also require a detailed written description for these unusual trademarks because the trademark drawing cannot always adequately represent them. For 3D and trade dress trademarks, you must mention in your description that the trademark is three-dimensional.

For more information about drawings for these types of trademarks, see TMEP §807.09 (for sound, scent, and non-visual marks), TMEP §807.10 and TMEP §1202.02(c)(i) (for 3D and trade dress marks), and TMEP §807.11 (for motion marks).

Need to respond to an office action about a trademark drawing issue?

Respond online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). Follow the specific instructions below for trademark drawing issues, or get general information about responding to office actions.

To submit a new drawing

The instructions presume that you will respond to more than one issue. To respond, fill out the form to address all issues in the office action and, at the end of the form, the correct party must properly sign it. It is important that the proper party sign your response, otherwise we may not accept it and you could miss the deadline for responding to an office action. For more information about who may sign a response, please review your office action.

1. If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
2. Answer "Yes" to question 4 on the form.
3. In the "Mark Update" section of the form, check the box stating that you have read and understood that a material alteration will not be permitted.
4. To amend your trademark, do the following:

a. For a standard character trademark (non-stylized text trademark), click the radio button by “Standard Characters” and type the new trademark in the text field for adding/modifying the standard character trademark.

b. For a special form trademark:

i. Click the radio button for “Special Form (Stylized and/or Design).”
ii. Click the "Choose File" button to select a JPG image file from your local drive; the image size cannot exceed 5 megabytes. (If you are claiming color as a feature of the mark, you must submit a color image.)
iii. Click the "Open" file button.
iv. After the file name appears in the window, click the "Attach" button to upload the file into the application.
v. Enter the literal elements in the text field below.
vi. Enter further below a complete description of all text and/or design elements in the text field following "The mark consists of:_______."

5. If your trademark is in color, after you click the radio button for “Special Form (Stylized and/or Design)”, (a) type the name of enter each color appearing in the trademark in the field for claiming color and (b) revise the trademark description in the text field following "The mark consists of:______" to indicate where each color is located in the trademark.

File format and size requirements for special form images

JPG file format
File size is 5 megabytes or smaller
File name is less than 256 characters, including “.jpg” file extension
Zipped or compressed files are not acceptable
Trademark image has as little white space as possible around the design
If a color trademark, use RGB color scheme; if you can open your image with your browser, then it is saved in the RGB color scheme. Do not use the CMYK color scheme when using design programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

Recommendations for creating high-quality images with a scanner

Scanning is not recommended. If you must scan:

Scan a high-quality original
Use software to crop, resize, and adjust the image to minimize white space around the design
For black and white or color images, ensure dots per inch (DPI) of 300-350, and pixel range of 250-944 for both length and width
For grayscale images, ensure 8 bits per sample pixel. We consider grayscale images to be black and white.

To submit a standard character claim

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
Answer "Yes" to question 4 on the form.
In the "Mark Update" section of the form, check the box stating that you have read and understood that a material alteration will not be permitted.
Click the radio button by "Standard Characters."
Type your trademark in the text field to add/modify the standard characters trademark.

To submit a trademark description

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
To submit a trademark description, do the following:

a. If you initially submitted your trademark as a special form drawing:

i. Answer "Yes” to question 4 on the form.
ii. In the "Mark Update" section of the form, check the box stating that you have read and understood that a material alteration will not be permitted.
iii. Type the revised trademark description in the text field following "Mark consists of:______."

b. If you initially submitted your trademark as a standard character drawing and need to change it to a special form drawing and submit a trademark description, follow the directions under "To submit a new drawing" above for a special form trademark.

To submit a color claim

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
Answer "Yes" to question 4 on the form.
In the "Mark Update" section of the form, check the box stating that you have read and understood that a material alteration will not be permitted.
Type the revised color claim in the text field and, if appropriate, revise the trademark description in the text field following "The mark consists of: _______” to indicate where each color is located in the trademark.

If you initially submitted your trademark as a standard character drawing and need to change it to a special form drawing and submit a color claim and trademark description, follow the directions under “To submit a new drawing” above for a special form trademark.

To submit a translation or transliteration

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
Answer "Yes" to question 3 on the form.
Under the “Additional Statement(s)," in the "Translation" or "Transliteration" section, type the appropriate wording in the text field.

To submit an explanation of specific matter’s significance

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
Answer "Yes" to question 3 on the form.
Under the "Additional Statements," in the “Significance of wording, letter(s), or numeral(s)” section, type the explanation in the appropriate text field.

To submit an explanation of geographical significance

If you are responding to a nonfinal office action, use the Response to Examining Attorney Office Action form. If you are responding to a final office action, use the Request for Reconsideration after Final Action form.
Answer "Yes" to question 3 on the form.
If the matter has geographical significance, provide, under “Additional Statement(s),” in the “Miscellaneous Statement” section, the explanation of that significance in the free form text field.
If the matter does not have geographical significance, provide, under “Additional Statement(s),” in the “Significance of wording, letter(s), or numeral(s)” section, the explanation in the appropriate text field.