All classes · Class 35
Class 35: Advertising & Business: trademark trends & clearance risk
Class 35 is the 2nd busiest of the 45 classes, with 1,452,748 U.S. applications on record and 113,920 waiting for a decision. Its registration rate of 60.7% ranks 36th of 45, below the 61.9% average. Filings rose 6.6% in 2025, and are below the 73,764 filed in the peak year of 2021. 65.1% of applications filed from 2015 to 2019 drew an Office Action, the 10th highest share. The word used most in its live marks is "com", in 10,288 of them.
What it covers: Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions
Words already crowded in Class 35
The words that appear most often in the 583,918 live Class 35 marks. A word that many owners already use gets narrow protection: two marks that share it are usually told apart by the rest of the name. That cuts both ways. A new name built on "com" is easier to fit in, and harder to defend against the next one.
| Word | Live marks using it |
|---|---|
| com | 10,288 |
| group | 5,281 |
| solutions | 4,510 |
| life | 3,538 |
| world | 3,530 |
| health | 3,387 |
| business | 3,356 |
| association | 3,204 |
| home | 3,158 |
| services | 2,960 |
| american | 2,741 |
| club | 2,681 |
| one | 2,599 |
| america | 2,570 |
| global | 2,568 |
Live marks are registered or pending. Words of three letters or more, counted once per mark; articles and company suffixes left out. Rebuilt weekly.
Check before you file. The free clearance risk check finds marks that look or sound like yours in Class 35, not only exact matches. If your mark has a logo, run it through the logo similarity search too.
Easy to confuse with Class 35
Filing in the wrong class means paying again, so check where your goods or services actually belong.
- Advertising and marketing are Class 35. Web design and software development are Class 42. Class 42: Computer & Scientific
- Business consulting is Class 35. Business training and seminars are Class 41. Class 41: Education & Entertainment
- Accounting and bookkeeping are Class 35. Banking, insurance and investment are Class 36. Class 36: Insurance & Financial
Not sure? Describe what you sell to the class recommender.
Wording that got through in Class 35
The descriptions of goods and services used most often in Class 35 applications that went on to register, filed since 2020. Wording that examiners have accepted thousands of times is a safer start than your own: a description written freely costs $200 more per class and is a common reason for an Office Action asking you to rephrase. Check the exact entry in the USPTO's ID Manual before you file.
| Description | Registered marks using it |
|---|---|
| Advertising services | 7,363 |
| Marketing services | 6,863 |
| Business management | 4,081 |
| Provision of an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of goods and services | 3,519 |
| Sales promotion for others | 3,413 |
| Business consulting services | 2,918 |
| Import-export agency services | 2,772 |
| Business administration | 2,610 |
| On-line retail store services featuring a wide variety of consumer goods of others | 2,595 |
| Accounting services | 2,556 |
| Providing office functions | 2,442 |
| Advertising and marketing | 2,409 |
| Online advertising on a computer network | 2,183 |
| Advertising | 2,178 |
| Marketing consulting | 2,104 |
| Commercial administration of the licensing of the goods and services of others | 2,062 |
| Business management consulting | 1,995 |
| Advertising, marketing and promotion services | 1,892 |
| Compilation of information into computer databases | 1,885 |
| Business management and organization consultancy | 1,879 |
Each application's description split into its separate items, counted once per application. Source: USPTO records. Rebuilt weekly.
What examination did to Class 35 applications
The 272,558 Class 35 applications filed from 2015 to 2019, followed through their file histories. 63.7% of them registered 2.2 points better than the all-class average.
| What happened | Applications | Share | All 45 classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filed in this class | 272,558 | 100% | – |
| Drew at least one Office Action | 177,535 | 65.1% | 58.4% |
| Escalated to a final refusal | 29,186 | 10.7% | 8.9% |
| Abandoned for never answering one | 54,823 | 20.1% | – |
| Registered in the end | 173,577 | 63.7% | 61.5% |
Every share is of the 272,558 applications filed. Rows overlap: an application that drew an Office Action and then registered is counted in both.
Of the 177,535 Class 35 applications that drew one, 30.9% were abandoned for never answering or answering late. Of those that did answer, 82% went on to register. If you get one, the deadline matters more than the refusal does: track it here, and put an email address you actually read on the application.
- How long it took. Half the Class 35 applications that registered did so within 12.5 months of filing, and nine in ten within 28 months.
- Intent to use. 34.8% reached a Notice of Allowance, with only proof of use left to file. Even then, 42.2% of them were abandoned without a Statement of Use ever being filed, and of the ones that bought three or more extensions first, only 38.4% made it to registration.
- Filing without an attorney. 75% of Class 35 applications had an attorney on record, and those registered 69.5% of the time against 46.1% without one. 57.2% of unrepresented applicants who drew an Office Action never answered it. Your odds in Class 35.
Cohort: applications with a filing date from 2015 to 2019, counted once in every class they claim. Outcome is whether a registration ever issued. Source: USPTO file histories. All 45 classes compared. How we count.
Status mix of all filings
| Status | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Live (registered) | 409,762 | 28.2% |
| Pending | 113,920 | 7.8% |
| Abandoned | 526,555 | 36.2% |
| Cancelled / expired | 402,511 | 27.7% |
Filings by year (last decade)
How many new applications were filed in this class each year. Excludes records with null filing dates (mostly very old paper backfile).
| Year | New filings | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11,823 | |
| 2016 | 50,474 | |
| 2017 | 54,690 | |
| 2018 | 56,977 | |
| 2019 | 59,226 | |
| 2020 | 66,977 | |
| 2021 | 73,764 | |
| 2022 | 69,279 | |
| 2023 | 66,047 | |
| 2024 | 65,234 | |
| 2025 | 69,565 | |
| 2026 | 57,524 |
Source: USPTO bulk trademark feed. How we count.
International filings in Class 35 (Madrid System)
Where Class 35 marks are designated, and where they are refused
| Country / office | Designations | Provisional | Total refusals | Partial | Refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (US) | 10,237 | 98.9% | 297 | 27 | 2.9% |
| European Union (EM) | 10,170 | 38.5% | 257 | 71 | 2.5% |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 9,425 | 25.9% | 78 | 60 | 0.8% |
| China (CN) | 8,405 | 85.3% | 2,029 | 3,666 | 24.1% |
| Switzerland (CH) | 7,909 | 15% | 226 | 5 | 2.9% |
| Canada (CA) | 7,724 | 94.6% | 1,860 | 0 | 24.1% |
| Australia (AU) | 6,665 | 41.5% | 17 | 19 | 0.3% |
| Japan (JP) | 6,550 | 88.5% | 1,172 | 0 | 17.9% |
Most international Class 35 filers come from European Union (18,860), Germany (11,812), United States (10,316), France (10,256), United Kingdom (7,545), Switzerland (6,610).
WIPO Madrid Monitor data (CC BY 4.0); refusals measured on 2019–2022 registrations. Why we count this way.
Most-active filers in this class
The 10 entities with the most trademark applications in Class 35.
| # | Filer | Applications in this class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE | 1,766 |
| 2 | AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 1,324 |
| 3 | Sears Brands, LLC | 1,323 |
| 4 | Deutsche Telekom AG | 1,199 |
| 5 | TARGET BRANDS, INC. | 1,198 |
| 6 | INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP, INC. | 1,185 |
| 7 | WAL-MART STORES, INC. | 1,163 |
| 8 | WPP PROPERTIES | 875 |
| 9 | Ultraconcurrent, Inc. | 816 |
| 10 | American Express Marketing & Development Corp. | 811 |
Recently registered in Class 35
The latest marks the USPTO registered in this class, on 29 September 2026.