How to Register a Trademark in California: Form TM-100 and Filing

To register a trademark in California, file Form TM-100 with the Secretary of State, pay $70 for each class of goods or services your mark covers, and include three specimens showing the mark already in use in the state. California does not accept “intent to use” applications, so the mark has to be in genuine commercial use before you apply.¹

Confirm You Are Actually Using the Mark in California

Everything else in the process assumes you clear this first bar. Business and Professions Code section 14200 requires “bona fide use” in the ordinary course of trade. Token use staked out just to lock in a filing date does not qualify.¹

What “use” looks like depends on what you sell. For a trademark on goods, the mark has to appear on the product itself, its packaging, labels, or associated displays. For a service mark, the mark has to appear in advertising or sales materials, and the services have to actually be performed in California.¹

Your mark also has to be distinctive. A name that just describes the product (think “Fresh Bread” for a bakery) will be refused unless you can show it has acquired distinctiveness through at least five years of continuous use in California. The same five-year rule applies to marks that are primarily a surname.²

Search for Conflicting Marks Before You Pay the Fee

The Secretary of State will refuse any mark that too closely resembles one already registered in California or previously used by another business, and your filing fee is not refundable if that happens.² Confusing similarity is the ground that trips up more applicants than any other, so run a clearance search before you spend a dollar.

Three places to look:

The California Secretary of State’s free trademark search tool through the bizfile portal, which also lets you download imaged trademark documents as PDFs.³
The USPTO’s Trademark Search system at tmsearch.uspto.gov. A federally registered mark can block your state registration or force you to stop using the mark entirely.⁴
General web searches, business directories, and industry publications. Neither state nor federal databases capture unregistered “common law” marks, which are rights created purely through commercial use. A business that has been using a name in California for years may have enforceable rights without ever having filed.

Fill Out Form TM-100

The application is Form TM-100, available as a fillable PDF from the Secretary of State’s website or through the bizfile Online portal.⁵ Gather the following before you start.

Owner Information

Enter the complete legal name of the person or entity that owns the mark, along with a full business address. If the owner is a business entity, the name and entity type have to match your existing filings with the state.⁵

Description of the Mark

If the mark is only words, list the words. If it combines words with a design, provide the words plus a written description of the design. If it is a design only, describe the design in writing without referencing the specimens. If color is a distinctive feature, note that too.

Dates of First Use

The form asks for two dates: when you first used the mark anywhere, and when you first used it in California specifically. These dates set your priority. The earlier your first-use date, the stronger your claim if someone else later tries to register something similar.

Class and Description of Goods or Services

California uses the USPTO’s classification system, which follows the international Nice Classification. Goods fall into classes 1 through 34; services fall into classes 35 through 45.⁶ Pick the class that fits and write a clear description of the specific goods or services your mark covers. One application can include multiple classes, but each class costs an additional $70.³ The USPTO’s Trademark ID Manual is a useful reference if you’re unsure.

Three Specimens

You have to include three identical specimens showing the mark as it actually appears in commerce. For goods: labels, tags, wrappers, or clear photographs of the mark attached to the product. For services: business cards, brochures, flyers, or advertisements that display the mark alongside a description of the services.⁵

The form explicitly rejects altered or defaced specimens, anything made of metal, words simply typed on a sheet of paper, computer-generated mockups, envelopes, invoices, and matchbooks. Specimen problems are one of the most common reasons an application gets kicked back, so look at what you’re submitting through that lens before you file.

File and Pay

The fastest route is the Secretary of State’s bizfile Online portal at bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov. Create an account, upload the completed Form TM-100 along with your specimen images, and pay by credit card or prepaid account.⁷

If you prefer paper, mail the application with a check to:

Secretary of State, Trademark Unit
P.O. Box 942870
Sacramento, CA 94277-2870⁸

The fee is $70 per class.⁹ A mark covering three classes costs $210. None of it comes back if your application is refused.

You will sign a declaration stating that all material facts in the application are true. Filing false information can bring a civil penalty of up to $10,000.³

Processing times move with filing volume, and the Secretary of State posts current processing dates on its website.¹⁰ Once approved, you get a certificate of registration issued under the Secretary of State’s signature and seal. That certificate is admissible as evidence of your trademark rights in any California court.¹¹

Keep the Registration Alive

A California trademark registration lasts five years from the filing date. Within the six months before expiration, you can renew for another five-year term by filing a renewal application and paying a $30 fee.¹²⁹ You can keep renewing indefinitely as long as the mark stays in continuous use. Miss the window and the registration expires; you start over with a new application and another $70 per class.

Registration also depends on your continuing to use the mark. Under federal trademark law, three consecutive years of non-use creates a legal presumption that you have abandoned the mark, and California’s common law follows similar principles. Stop using the mark with no intent to resume and competitors can challenge your registration or adopt a similar mark themselves.

If you sell or transfer the business, the mark goes with it. You can assign a California trademark to another person or business, but only together with the goodwill of the business connected to the mark. The assignment has to be in writing, and recording it with the Secretary of State costs $30.¹³⁹ Recording matters: an unrecorded assignment is void against someone who later buys the mark for value without knowing about the prior transfer, unless you record within three months of the assignment date. Once recorded, the Secretary of State issues a new certificate in the new owner’s name for the remaining term.

When State Registration Is Not Enough

A California registration only protects you inside California, and it only lets you use the “TM” or “SM” symbol. The ® symbol requires a federal registration through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which also gives you a legal presumption of ownership and constructive notice against later users anywhere in the country.¹⁴ If you sell across state lines or expect to, the federal route is the stronger protection, and many businesses eventually hold both. State registration is the right fit when your business stays inside California, when you cannot cross state lines, or when federal law shuts you out, as it does for cannabis businesses because marijuana remains a federally controlled substance.

1
Justia. California Code BPC 14200-14202 – Model State Trademark Law
2
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 14205 – Grounds for Refusal
3
California Secretary of State. Trademarks and Service Marks
4
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database
5
California Secretary of State. Instructions for Completing the Trademark Application for Registration Form TM-100
6
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Nice Agreement Current Edition Version – General Remarks, Class Headings
7
California Secretary of State. bizfile Online – Register or Modify a Trademark
8
California Secretary of State. Contact Information
9
California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12193 – Trademark and Service Mark Fees
10
California Secretary of State. Current Processing Dates
11
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 14215 – Certificate of Registration
12
California Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions
13
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 14220 – Assignment of Mark
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1072 – Registration as Constructive Notice of Claim of Ownership