# Before You File

> Plain-language guides for business owners choosing, filing and protecting a trademark in the United States.

- [Spotting trademark scams and invented fees](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/spotting-trademark-scams-and-invented-fees/index.md): Filing a trademark puts your name and address in a public record, and some businesses mine that record. How to tell an official USPTO or WIPO message from a solicitation, and what to do with one. (2026-10-21)
- [Specimens that work](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/specimens-that-work/index.md): A specimen is proof that your mark is really in use. What the USPTO accepts for goods and for services, the mistakes that cause refusals, and why an AI-made image is not a specimen. (2026-10-21)
- [Searching before you file](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/searching-before-you-file/index.md): The USPTO will search for conflicting marks after you file, and its refusal will cost you the fee. What to search, where, and what the Office's new AI image search can and cannot do for you. (2026-10-21)
- [Responding to an Office action](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/responding-to-an-office-action/index.md): An Office action is a letter from the examining attorney listing what stands between your application and registration. How to read one, what the deadlines are, what your options are, and what happens if you miss it. (2026-10-21)
- [Madrid designations into the US, and their Office actions](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/madrid-designations-into-the-us/index.md): Extending an international registration to the United States is cheap and simple to start. US examination, the six-month response period, the US-counsel requirement and the use declarations are where holders run into trouble. (2026-10-21)
- [Keeping your registration alive](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/keeping-your-registration-alive/index.md): A US registration lasts only as long as you keep proving use. The Section 8, 9, 15 and 71 filings, their windows and fees, what an audit asks for, and how registrations are lost. (2026-10-21)
- [First to use, first to file: how US trademark rights begin](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/first-to-use-vs-first-to-file/index.md): In most countries the first to register a mark owns it. In the United States, rights begin with use. What that means for a foreign business entering the US market, how to get a US filing date, and why US counsel is required. (2026-10-21)
- [Filing basics and fees](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/filing-basics-and-fees/index.md): What a US application contains, which filing basis fits your situation, what the USPTO charges as of the January 2025 fee rule, and what happens between filing and registration. (2026-10-21)
- [Choosing a strong mark](https://distinctive-mark.com/guides/choosing-a-strong-mark/index.md): Marks run from generic to fanciful, and where yours falls decides how easily it registers and how far it can be enforced. How to place a candidate on that spectrum before you spend money on it. (2026-10-21)