All classes · Class 43
Class 43: Hotels & Restaurants: trademark trends & clearance risk
Class 43 is the 17th busiest of the 45 classes, with 291,524 U.S. applications on record and 26,820 waiting for a decision. Its registration rate of 59.3% ranks 38th of 45, below the 61.9% average. Filings rose 6.4% in 2025, and are below the 16,856 filed in the peak year of 2021. 58.9% of applications filed from 2015 to 2019 drew an Office Action, the 10th lowest share. The word used most in its live marks is "bar", in 3,345 of them.
What it covers: Services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation
Words already crowded in Class 43
The words that appear most often in the 129,678 live Class 43 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 "bar" is easier to fit in, and harder to defend against the next one.
| Word | Live marks using it |
|---|---|
| bar | 3,345 |
| coffee | 2,744 |
| pizza | 2,234 |
| grill | 2,061 |
| house | 1,994 |
| cafe | 1,902 |
| hotel | 1,902 |
| kitchen | 1,736 |
| food | 1,534 |
| restaurant | 1,327 |
| club | 1,309 |
| chicken | 1,284 |
| brewing | 1,041 |
| est | 1,026 |
| burger | 1,003 |
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 43, not only exact matches. If your mark has a logo, run it through the logo similarity search too.
Easy to confuse with Class 43
Filing in the wrong class means paying again, so check where your goods or services actually belong.
- Hotel booking is Class 43. Arranging travel and tours is Class 39. Class 39: Transportation & Storage
- Bars, cafes and restaurants are Class 43. Nightclubs are Class 41. Class 41: Education & Entertainment
Not sure? Describe what you sell to the class recommender.
Wording that got through in Class 43
The descriptions of goods and services used most often in Class 43 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 |
|---|---|
| Restaurant services | 13,443 |
| Catering services | 4,172 |
| Bar services | 3,987 |
| Restaurant and bar services | 3,345 |
| Take-out restaurant services | 2,524 |
| Restaurant | 2,205 |
| Restaurant services, including sit-down service of food and take-out restaurant services | 2,101 |
| Hotel accommodation services | 1,786 |
| Restaurant and catering services | 1,776 |
| Restaurant and bar services, including restaurant carryout services | 1,606 |
| Restaurant services, namely, providing of food and beverages for consumption on and off the premises | 1,580 |
| Providing of food and drink via a mobile truck | 1,551 |
| Restaurant and café services | 1,420 |
| Café services | 1,304 |
| Food and drink catering | 1,197 |
| Coffee shops | 1,180 |
| Bar and restaurant services | 1,168 |
| Restaurants | 1,131 |
| Cafe services | 1,126 |
| Fast-food restaurant services | 1,109 |
Each application's description split into its separate items, counted once per application. Source: USPTO records. Rebuilt weekly.
What examination did to Class 43 applications
The 74,136 Class 43 applications filed from 2015 to 2019, followed through their file histories. 59.8% of them registered 1.7 points worse than the all-class average.
| What happened | Applications | Share | All 45 classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filed in this class | 74,136 | 100% | – |
| Drew at least one Office Action | 43,693 | 58.9% | 58.4% |
| Escalated to a final refusal | 6,439 | 8.7% | 8.9% |
| Abandoned for never answering one | 15,370 | 20.7% | – |
| Registered in the end | 44,318 | 59.8% | 61.5% |
Every share is of the 74,136 applications filed. Rows overlap: an application that drew an Office Action and then registered is counted in both.
Of the 43,693 Class 43 applications that drew one, 35.2% were abandoned for never answering or answering late. Of those that did answer, 78.5% 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 43 applications that registered did so within 12 months of filing, and nine in ten within 27.3 months.
- Intent to use. 37.9% reached a Notice of Allowance, with only proof of use left to file. Even then, 47.1% of them were abandoned without a Statement of Use ever being filed, and of the ones that bought three or more extensions first, only 32.1% made it to registration.
- Filing without an attorney. 77.5% of Class 43 applications had an attorney on record, and those registered 64.6% of the time against 43.1% without one. 59.7% of unrepresented applicants who drew an Office Action never answered it. Your odds in Class 43.
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) | 96,945 | 33.3% |
| Pending | 26,820 | 9.2% |
| Abandoned | 107,658 | 36.9% |
| Cancelled / expired | 60,101 | 20.6% |
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 | 3,143 | |
| 2016 | 14,240 | |
| 2017 | 15,032 | |
| 2018 | 15,602 | |
| 2019 | 15,919 | |
| 2020 | 14,156 | |
| 2021 | 16,856 | |
| 2022 | 16,185 | |
| 2023 | 16,165 | |
| 2024 | 15,820 | |
| 2025 | 16,830 | |
| 2026 | 13,987 |
Source: USPTO bulk trademark feed. How we count.
International filings in Class 43 (Madrid System)
Where Class 43 marks are designated, and where they are refused
| Country / office | Designations | Provisional | Total refusals | Partial | Refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Union (EM) | 1,598 | 34% | 40 | 15 | 2.5% |
| United States (US) | 1,588 | 98.6% | 60 | 3 | 3.8% |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 1,481 | 19.2% | 15 | 4 | 1% |
| China (CN) | 1,361 | 73.3% | 332 | 473 | 24.4% |
| Switzerland (CH) | 1,295 | 20% | 42 | 1 | 3.2% |
| Canada (CA) | 1,153 | 90.3% | 262 | 0 | 22.7% |
| Japan (JP) | 1,097 | 77% | 186 | 0 | 17% |
| Australia (AU) | 1,058 | 40.5% | 1 | 2 | 0.1% |
Most international Class 43 filers come from European Union (3,036), Germany (2,183), France (1,978), United States (1,616), Switzerland (1,467), United Kingdom (1,352).
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 43.
| # | Filer | Applications in this class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. | 1,082 |
| 2 | CAESARS LICENSE COMPANY, LLC | 451 |
| 3 | ARAMARK SERVICES, INC. | 429 |
| 4 | Alvarez, George | 414 |
| 5 | MCDONALD'S CORPORATION | 408 |
| 6 | BEST WESTERN INTERNATIONAL, INC. | 401 |
| 7 | OTG EXPERIENCE, LLC | 375 |
| 8 | LIVE! HOLDINGS, LLC | 373 |
| 9 | Six Continents Hotels, Inc. | 365 |
| 10 | CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC. | 362 |
Recently registered in Class 43
The latest marks the USPTO registered in this class, on 29 September 2026.