Protect your startup’s
trademarks the proper way.
Attorney-reviewed intellectual property protection.
Attorney
Meet Martin.
Martin S. Hui, Esq.
Founder · Proper IP
martin@properip.co
Martin is a licensed attorney who focuses his practice on trademark clearance, brand strategy and corporate law for startups.
He has spent 12+ years advising startups from pre-seed through pre-IPO, and he has sat on both sides of the table. As a founding team member and general counsel of a leading B2B tech startup, he helped grow it to over $150M in contract value and over 100,000 users, and raise nearly $8M along the way.
Before that, Martin trained in the corporate group at Davis Polk in New York, then spent five years in the legal groups at Morgan Stanley and BMO, working on roughly $1T of M&A and securities transactions. At Morgan Stanley he served two years as the sole lawyer to the Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures accelerator program, helping manage the bank's portfolio of early-stage investments.
He has since backed more than 50 startups and has learned that brands are the one asset you cannot rebuild from a backup: it is what your customers remember, what an acquirer diligences, and what a competitor will test the moment you leave it unguarded. Getting it right the first time is the cheapest hour a founder will ever buy.
Practice
Trademark clearance, prosecution & IP strategy
USPTO filings · office actions · brand protection
Experience
Founding General Counsel · Davis Polk · Morgan Stanley · BMO
12+ years · pre-seed to pre-IPO · 50+ startups backed
Admissions
New York
Qualified to represent applicants before the USPTO
Pricing
One flat fee to file your trademark.
Attorney-reviewed clearance and USPTO filing: no hourly billing, no surprises.
Trademark Launch Kit
Get your name protected. Attorney-reviewed clearance and USPTO filing, handled end to end.
- Knockout + full clearance search
- Attorney review and strategy call
- USPTO filing for one mark (up to 3 classes / mark)
USPTO government filing fees are separate and billed at cost: $350 per class, per mark.
Free report
Not ready to file? Start here.
Enter your website and we'll read what your company does, identify the classes you'd file in, and flag conflicts that could block registration, free, in minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What founders ask before they file.
- How much does it cost to trademark a name in the US?
- Proper IP charges a flat $995 attorney fee that covers a clearance search, strategy, and preparing and filing your application. The USPTO then charges a government filing fee of $350 per class of goods or services, billed at cost. A single-class filing is $995 plus $350. There is no hourly billing and no surprises.
- How long does it take to register a trademark?
- Usually about a year, sometimes longer. After you file, the USPTO assigns an examining attorney (currently several months out), reviews the application, publishes it for opposition, and issues the registration if all goes smoothly. Office actions or third-party oppositions add time. We monitor the timeline so you do not have to.
- What is the difference between registering an LLC and trademarking my name?
- They are not the same, and this trips up a lot of founders. Forming an LLC or reserving a business name with your state registers your legal entity. It does not give you trademark rights or stop a competitor from using your brand name. A federal trademark is what actually protects the name your customers know you by, nationwide.
- Do I have to be using my brand name before I can trademark it?
- No. U.S. trademark rights are ultimately based on use, but you do not have to be using the name yet to file. If you are already selling under it, you file on a use in commerce basis. If you are planning to launch, an intent to use application reserves the name now and lets you prove use later. We will confirm which basis fits.
Protect your brand name with a proper trademark.
Attorney-reviewed clearance and USPTO filing, handled end to end.