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Under U.S. Trademark law, there is no legal limit to the number of words or characters that can be considered a “phrase” for trademark purposes. So, in theory, you could try to register a trademark for a 100-character phrase. And, occasionally, over the years, applicants have tried to register trademarks with very long phrases. In one famous example, an applicant tried to register a phrase that was literally thousands of characters long. The application was denied, the denial was affirmed by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and that denial was affirmed by the U.S. federal court to which the denial was appealed.
The problem with a long phrase is that, very quickly, the phrase becomes too long to serve as a trademark. A trademark only serves or functions as a trademark if it creates an association in a consumer’s mind between a commercial source and a product or service. There are two aspects here. First, consumers must remember the phrase and then, second, consumers must associate the phrase with a given product or service. Generally, the longer the phrase, the less likely consumers are to remember the words and, therefore, the less likely they are to associate the long phrase with a product or service. Legally, this is called “failure to function as a trademark” and was the reason for denying registration for the proposed trademark that was thousands of characters long.
Most registered phrases are very short, containing, at most, a handful of words and being 25 characters or less. Most are quite short, with only 2 or 3 words and less than 10 characters. But longer registered phrases are certainly common. Here are a few famous longer phrases that are registered trademarks with their character counts:
As most readers will agree, these longer phrases seem to function as trademarks. We remember them, and some association is brought to mind with respect to a product or service. But, at the same time, we can probably agree that if the phrases get substantially longer, their effectiveness as trademarks will begin to falter.
Other reasons a longer phrase might be denied registration
Aside from failing to function as a trademark, there are many other reasons that an application might be denied. These include:
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For more information, contact the experienced Trademark Lawyers at Revision Legal. You can contact us through the form on this page or call (855) 473-8474.
The question of how long a phrase trademark can be is ultimately a question about how trademark law works — what marks function to identify a commercial source, and why the law requires that function. Understanding the distinctiveness spectrum helps applicants choose phrases that have a realistic chance of registration and meaningful protection once registered.
The USPTO and federal courts evaluate the protectability of a phrase trademark along the distinctiveness spectrum established in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4 (2d Cir. 1976). The spectrum runs from arbitrary/fanciful marks at the strongest end, through suggestive marks, to descriptive marks, and finally to generic terms, which cannot be trademarked at all.
For phrase trademarks, the distinctiveness analysis often focuses on whether the phrase is a common expression that consumers are likely to read as descriptive or purely ornamental, rather than as a source identifier. A phrase like “BUILT TO LAST” for hardware tools is descriptive of the product’s quality and will face a Section 2(e)(1) refusal from the USPTO. The applicant would need to demonstrate, through evidence of long and exclusive use, substantial advertising expenditures, consumer surveys, and third-party recognition, that consumers have come to associate the phrase with a specific brand rather than the product quality it describes.
Beyond descriptiveness, phrase marks face an additional hurdle: the “failure to function” doctrine. The USPTO can refuse registration of a phrase on the ground that it fails to function as a trademark — even if the phrase is not technically descriptive — when consumers are likely to perceive the phrase as a message, a social comment, or mere ornamentation rather than as a brand identifier. The USPTO has applied this doctrine aggressively in recent years, particularly to politically charged phrases, motivational slogans, and phrases that appear on the front of t-shirts or merchandise as expressive content rather than brand identifiers.
The Supreme Court addressed related issues in Vidal v. Elster, 602 U.S. 286 (2024), which upheld the constitutionality of the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering marks that contain the name of a living person without consent. That case affirmed that trademark law’s categorical limits on registration do not violate the First Amendment. For businesses seeking to register phrase trademarks, the practical lesson is that phrases with expressive, political, or ornamental connotations face steeper registration hurdles than commercially distinctive brand identifiers.
While the USPTO application is pending — a process that typically takes 12 to 18 months from filing to registration, assuming no substantive office actions — the applicant has limited but real rights. The ™ symbol can be used immediately upon filing an application, putting the marketplace on notice that you are claiming trademark rights in the phrase. If the application is based on actual use in commerce (as opposed to an intent-to-use filing), common law rights accrue from the date of first use, providing geographic protection in the areas where the mark is actually used.
For commercially significant phrases — particularly those that represent a major product launch, a campaign tagline, or a competitive differentiator — consider filing as early as possible, even before the phrase has been used publicly. An intent-to-use application establishes a priority date as of the filing date, which can be critical if a competitor files a similar mark in the intervening period. The priority date from an ITU filing applies retroactively to the date of first use once the Statement of Use is filed.
Social media has made phrase trademark issues both more common and more urgent. Viral catchphrases associated with influencers, brands, or cultural moments can acquire commercial value almost overnight. “Let’s Go Brandon,” “OK Boomer,” and “That’s Cringe” are examples of phrases that attracted trademark filings from multiple parties attempting to capture the commercial value of a cultural moment. These cases illustrate both the opportunity and the risk: a phrase that becomes culturally ubiquitous too quickly may be too widely used to function as a single-source identifier.
Brands and individuals who develop phrases with commercial potential should act quickly. Monitoring social media and competitor activity for unauthorized uses, filing applications early, and policing the mark once registered are all essential steps. The trademark attorneys at Revision Legal assist clients in evaluating phrase trademark applications, developing clearance strategies, and prosecuting applications through the USPTO. Contact us to discuss whether your phrase is registrable and how to protect it effectively.
Registering a trademark is one of the smartest investments you can make as a business owner. A trademark protects your brand, gives you exclusive rights to use your mark in commerce, and provides significant legal advantages — including a presumption of ownership and the ability to bring infringement claims in federal court. But many business […]
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