How to Trademark a Phrase: What You Can (and Can't) Protect in 2026
You can trademark a phrase — but only in connection with specific goods or services, and only if the phrase functions as a brand rather than as a common expression. You cannot own a phrase in the abstract or stop people from saying it. Registration costs $850 all-in with my office ($500 flat attorney fee + $350 USPTO filing fee per class) and takes roughly 10–14 months — and knowing whether your phrase is registrable before filing is most of the battle.
Someone coins a phrase, it starts catching on, and the question follows immediately: can I trademark that? The answer is a genuine "yes, but" — yes, phrases are registrable, but under conditions that rule out most of what people hope to protect. This guide explains what a phrase trademark actually covers, the legal tests that decide whether yours qualifies, what famous phrase trademarks got right, and the honest odds for sayings and viral expressions.
(If your phrase is specifically a business tagline or advertising slogan, the companion guide on how to trademark a slogan covers the commercial-slogan rules in depth.)
- What Trademarking a Phrase Actually Means
- Can You Trademark a Phrase? The Tests That Decide
- Can You Trademark a Saying?
- What About Viral Phrases and Catchphrases?
- Phrases on T-Shirts and Merch: The Ornamental Trap
- The Process and the Cost
- Can You Copyright or Patent a Phrase?
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Trademarking a Phrase Actually Means
The most important correction to make up front: a trademark does not give you ownership of words. It gives you the exclusive right to use a phrase as a brand for particular goods and services. Michael Buffer's registration of "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" — one of the most successfully licensed phrase trademarks in history — doesn't stop anyone from saying it; it stops others from using it to sell the kinds of entertainment, games, and merchandise his registrations cover.
That's the frame for everything else on this page. The USPTO doesn't ask "did you coin this phrase?" or "is it associated with you?" It asks: when consumers see this phrase on these goods or services, do they perceive it as identifying a single source? Rights follow from that source-identifying use — which is also why a phrase trademark requires you to actually have (or genuinely intend) goods or services to attach it to. There is no registration for a phrase in the abstract.
Can You Trademark a Phrase? The Tests That Decide
Test One: Distinctiveness
A phrase that's arbitrary or suggestive for your goods registers readily. A phrase that describes them needs proof of acquired distinctiveness. A generic phrase never registers.
Test Two: Failure to Function — the Phrase-Killer
Under the USPTO's examination rules (TMEP § 1202.04), a phrase that consumers would perceive as a commonplace message, sentiment, or expression — rather than as a brand — fails to function as a trademark and is refused regardless of who used it first. Widely used expressions, everyday sentiments, social and political messages, and phrases already circulating in common speech all fall here. This is the refusal that ends most "can I trademark this saying" hopes: the more viral and widely repeated a phrase becomes, the more it belongs to everyone in trademark terms, and the harder it is for anyone to claim as a source identifier. Speed matters — a phrase can be registrable early, while it still points to one source, and unregistrable a year later after the internet has made it a common expression.
Test Three: No Conflicts
The standard likelihood-of-confusion analysis against registered marks and common-law users, covered by the clearance search.
And one constitutional footnote worth knowing: the Supreme Court struck down the bans on registering "immoral or scandalous" and "disparaging" marks (Iancu v. Brunetti, 2019; Matal v. Tam, 2017), so edgy phrasing is no longer an automatic bar — but failure-to-function still applies with full force, and it's the ground the USPTO now relies on for most controversial-phrase refusals.
Can You Trademark a Saying?
Usually no — and it's worth being direct about why, because this is among the most common questions I get.
A "saying" is, almost by definition, an expression in general circulation: proverbs, catchphrases, motivational lines, things people already say. That's precisely what the failure-to-function refusal targets. If the saying existed before you, or has spread beyond you, the USPTO will conclude consumers see it as a message, not a mark.
The Path That Does Work
Taking a saying-like phrase and building genuine brand use around it — using it consistently as the name or tagline of actual goods or services, in the places brands live (labels, packaging, advertising headers), until it points to you. Paris Hilton's registration of "That's Hot" — which she later successfully defended in litigation against Hallmark — worked because the phrase was tied to her as a source across registered goods, not because she said it first. Ohio State's 2022 registration of the single word "THE" for apparel succeeded the same way: not by owning the most common word in English, but by showing branded use on specific goods. The lesson runs one direction — brand use first, registration second.
If your saying is currently just something you say, the honest advice is that filing today likely buys a refusal. The better sequence is establishing the commercial use, then filing — or filing intent-to-use only when a genuine product launch is imminent.
What About Viral Phrases and Catchphrases?
The gold-rush pattern repeats every time a phrase goes viral: dozens of applications race to the USPTO, and nearly all of them die — either as failure-to-function refusals (the phrase became a common expression the moment it went viral) or as abandoned applications when filers discover they must prove actual use on real goods to complete registration. Filing fees are not refunded when that happens.
The realistic version of the opportunity: if you originated a phrase and can move quickly to genuine commercial use — merchandise sold under the phrase as a brand, an entertainment service, a media property — an intent-to-use application filed early can lock priority before the phrase saturates. That's a narrow window and a real business commitment, not a $350 lottery ticket. Part of my job is telling you which side of that line your phrase is on before you spend anything.
Phrases on T-Shirts and Merch: The Ornamental Trap
The most common plan for a phrase — put it on shirts — runs into the same specimen problem that catches slogans: a phrase printed large across the front of a T-shirt is treated by the USPTO as decoration, not as a trademark (TMEP § 1202.03). Ornamental use doesn't support registration. To register a phrase for apparel, the specimens must show it used where brands appear — neck labels, hang tags, packaging, the store page's brand field — even if the front-of-shirt printing is where the money is. Merch businesses that structure their branding this way from day one save themselves the Office Action.
The Process and the Cost
Registration follows the standard federal track — clearance search, application (use-based or intent-to-use), examination at 6–8 months, publication, registration — running roughly 10–14 months end to end. The stage-by-stage walkthrough is in the trademark registration process guide with timing detail in the registration timeline breakdown.
The cost with my office is a flat $850 all-in for a single class — attorney fee plus the USPTO fee — including the clearance search and the failure-to-function assessment that decides whether your phrase should be filed at all.
Additional classes add $350 each in government fees; substantive Office Action responses, if needed, run $2,000–$2,500. Full pricing detail: how much does a trademark cost.
Can You Copyright or Patent a Phrase?
No to both — and enough people search these that they deserve a direct answer. Copyright protects creative works of authorship, and the Copyright Office expressly excludes names, titles, and short phrases from protection (Circular 33) — a phrase is too short to qualify no matter how original. Patents protect inventions — processes, machines, compositions — and have nothing to do with words at all. For a short phrase, trademark is the only intellectual property protection available, and only under the conditions described above. The full three-way breakdown is in copyright vs. trademark vs. patent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you trademark a phrase?
Yes — in connection with specific goods or services, if the phrase functions as a source identifier rather than a common expression. You cannot register a phrase in the abstract or prevent people from saying it.
Can you trademark a saying?
Usually not. Sayings in general circulation are refused as failing to function as trademarks. The exception is a saying-like phrase that has been built into a genuine brand through consistent commercial use.
Can you trademark a common phrase or word?
Only with strong evidence that, for your specific goods, consumers see it as your brand — the way Ohio State registered "THE" for apparel. The more common the phrase, the heavier the evidentiary lift.
How much does it cost to trademark a phrase?
$850 total for one class through my office — $500 flat attorney fee plus the $350 USPTO fee, including the clearance search and registrability assessment.
Can I trademark a phrase and put it on shirts?
Yes, but registration for apparel requires specimens showing the phrase used as a brand (labels, tags, packaging) — a phrase printed only as the shirt's front design is refused as ornamental.
Can you copyright a phrase?
No. Short phrases are expressly excluded from copyright protection. Trademark is the applicable protection, where the phrase qualifies.
Do I have to be using the phrase in business before filing?
No — an intent-to-use application reserves priority before launch — but registration only issues once you prove real commercial use, so an ITU filing without a genuine product plan ends as an abandoned application.
Find Out If Your Phrase Is Registrable — Before You File
I'm Michael Meyer, a USPTO-registered attorney (Reg. No. 78,575). Phrase trademarks fail more often than any other kind, almost always for reasons visible in advance — so my flat-fee registration ($850 all-in, single class) starts with an honest registrability assessment. If your phrase can't clear the USPTO's tests, I'll tell you before you spend anything, and if it can, we file it right the first time. Nebraska rates, nationwide representation.
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