USPTO Trademark Filings Posted Their Second-Strongest May in 11 Years
U.S. trademark filings hit 56,635 in May 2026 — the second-strongest May in 11 years — as Class 42 jumped 39.5% and year-to-date volume ran 11.0% ahead of 2025.
Founder, GleanMark
May was not a slowdown; it was the second-strongest May in the 11-year USPTO history we track. The 56,635 applications filed in May 2026 were down -7.1% from April, but up 16.9% from May 2025 and part of a year-to-date run that is 11.0% ahead of last year.
A monthly dip can be noise. A same-month near-record is the story.
What We Found
- May 2026 was the second-strongest May in this 11-year view: 56,635 applications, behind only May 2021’s 60,497.
- The year-to-date pace is also near the top: 281,908 filings through May, second-highest in the six-year comparison and 11.0% above 253,991 in 2025.
- Technology services are breaking out: Class 42 logged 6,461 class claims, down -10.2% from April but up 39.5% year over year.
- Google filed GOOGLE PICS the day before it hit the keynote stage: serial 99829379, filed May 18 — one day before Google unveiled Google Pics at its May 19 I/O 2026 keynote. The register had the name before the audience did.
- Pop Mart was May’s most active TTAB challenger: Beijing Pop Mart and Pop Mart Singapore each filed 8 proceedings.
Filing Volume
| Month | Total Filings | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 56,635 | -7.1% |
| April 2026 | 60,975 | -0.6% |
| March 2026 | 61,352 | 23% |
| February 2026 | 49,884 | -6% |
| January 2026 | 53,062 | -1.3% |
| December 2025 | 53,761 | 9.7% |
| November 2025 | 49,014 | -7.5% |
| October 2025 | 52,991 | -5.4% |
| September 2025 | 56,024 | 4.3% |
| August 2025 | 53,722 | -2.1% |
| July 2025 | 54,849 | 8.7% |
| June 2025 | 50,446 | 4.1% |
| May 2025 | 48,440 | — |
The record framing matters more than the April comparison. May 2026’s 56,635 filings rank second among Mays from 2016 through 2026; only May 2021, at 60,497, was higher. That makes May 2026 the strongest May since the 2021 boom.
Every May, 2016–2026
| Year | May Filings |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 34,884 |
| 2017 | 39,480 |
| 2018 | 42,890 |
| 2019 | 44,746 |
| 2020 | 45,375 |
| 2021 | 60,497 |
| 2022 | 47,639 |
| 2023 | 48,820 |
| 2024 | 51,569 |
| 2025 | 48,440 |
| 2026 | 56,635 |
Applications by filing date. Only May 2021’s pandemic-era surge — the year e-commerce brand filings spiked — sits above 2026.
Year to date, the register is running hot. Through May, 2026 reached 281,908 filings, compared with 253,991 through May 2025 — an 11.0% increase — and trails only 2021’s 303,921 in the six-year year-to-date comparison. We think this likely reflects two currents moving together: AI and software company formation on one side, and marketplace-driven brand protection filings on the other.
Against May 2025, the month was up 16.9%, from 48,440 to 56,635 applications. That is the more meaningful comparison than the -7.1% move from April, especially because March and April both sat above 60,000 filings.
NICE Class Leaderboard
| Rank | NICE Class | Description | Filings | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 41 | Education and entertainment services | 7,411 | -5.8% | 18.5% |
| 2 | 9 | Computer, scientific, electrical and audiovisual goods | 7,202 | -6.8% | 17.9% |
| 3 | 42 | Technology, software and scientific services | 6,461 | -10.2% | 39.5% |
| 4 | 35 | Advertising and business services | 6,075 | -7.7% | 6.8% |
| 5 | 25 | Clothing, footwear and headgear | 5,910 | -9.2% | 20.6% |
| 6 | 3 | Cosmetics and cleaning preparations | 2,994 | -4.6% | 14.4% |
| 7 | 5 | Pharmaceuticals and medical supplies | 2,891 | -3.6% | 9.4% |
| 8 | 28 | Toys, sporting goods and games | 2,770 | -4.9% | 23.8% |
| 9 | 21 | Housewares and glass | 2,572 | -6.6% | 19.9% |
| 10 | 16 | Paper goods and printed matter | 2,312 | -6.5% | 17.3% |
| 11 | 36 | Insurance and financial services | 2,156 | -7% | 7.9% |
| 12 | 44 | Medical, beauty and agricultural services | 1,973 | -1.5% | 7.1% |
| 13 | 20 | Furniture and household furnishings | 1,887 | -3.8% | 22% |
| 14 | 43 | Restaurant, hotel and hospitality services | 1,543 | 2.8% | 5% |
| 15 | 30 | Staple foods | 1,520 | -10% | -8.7% |
Class 41 led the month, just ahead of Class 9. That pairing is familiar: entertainment, education, software, electronics and digital goods continue to dominate the front of the filing line.
The more interesting move is Class 42. It ranked third by volume but grew 39.5% year over year, the standout move among the top classes. Because this leaderboard counts Nice-class claims, not applications, it should not be directly compared with the 56,635 application total. Still, the direction is hard to ignore. We think Class 42’s strength likely reflects early trademarking by AI tools, SaaS platforms, developer products and technical-service businesses that are trying to lock down names before product-market fit is obvious.
Consumer categories were not quiet either. Class 28, Class 25 and Class 20 all showed strong year-over-year gains, while Class 30 was the only top-15 class moving meaningfully the other way.
Top Filing Owners
| Owner | Filings | Prior Month | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| QUALITY GROWTH COMPANIES, L.L.C. | 45 | 0 | — |
| YUANCHEN HEALTHY TECHNOLOGY INC | 36 | 14 | 157.1% |
| OPENEVIDENCE INC. | 34 | 0 | — |
| THE UPPER DECK COMPANY | 31 | 23 | 34.8% |
| MgBRIGHT LLC | 31 | 0 | — |
| LIGHT & WONDER, INC. | 30 | 20 | 50% |
| Huang Sujin | 27 | 0 | — |
| Rainroot Group LLC | 26 | 0 | — |
| PCP GROUP, LLC | 25 | 0 | — |
| Shoufu Liu | 25 | 0 | — |
| Glaxo Group Limited | 24 | 29 | -17.2% |
| MATTEL, INCORPORATED | 23 | 15 | 53.3% |
The recognizable names are clustered in the middle of the owner leaderboard: OpenEvidence, Upper Deck, Light & Wonder, Glaxo Group and Mattel. The very top of this table is often a different story — batch filings, marketplace sellers and high-volume brand-building programs can outrank household names in a single month.
That does not make the list unimportant. It means raw owner volume is a blunt instrument. I care more about which established companies appear, what they filed, and whether the names look operational rather than decorative.
Top Correspondent Firms
| Firm | Filings | Prior Month | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LZ Legal Services, LLC | 803 | 799 | 0.5% |
| Swyft Legal LLC | 796 | 974 | -18.3% |
| SOLORIO LEGAL PC | 638 | 426 | 49.8% |
| Alioth Law P.C. | 376 | 385 | -2.3% |
| MEDIA LAW GROUP | 368 | 285 | 29.1% |
| Trademark Highway LLC | 332 | 212 | 56.6% |
| Grogan, Tuccillo & Vanderleedeen, LLP | 318 | 339 | -6.2% |
| Overseas Operation Services, Inc. DBA Flatfee Corp. | 293 | 652 | -55.1% |
| YK law(New Jersey) | 269 | 373 | -27.9% |
| One Juris PC | 262 | 251 | 4.4% |
| Sparring Legal LLP | 249 | 263 | -5.3% |
| WENGANG HE | 244 | 179 | 36.3% |
This is still an online-filing and DIY-heavy market at the top. LZ Legal Services and Swyft Legal were nearly tied in May, with 803 and 796 filings, respectively.
The bigger move came from Solorio Legal PC, up to 638 filings, and Trademark Highway LLC, which rose to 332. Among more traditional-looking practices, Grogan, Tuccillo & Vanderleedeen and Sparring Legal both remained in the top 12 despite month-over-month declines.
Notable Filings
The trademark register is the cleanest public preview of a company's product roadmap — companies just don't realize how early they're talking.
— Howard Katzenberg, Founder, GleanMark
Google: the I/O 2026 paper trail
Two Google filings landed within 48 hours of the company's May 19 I/O keynote, and the timing is the whole story.
GOOGLE PICS, serial 99829379, was filed on May 18 — one day before Google unveiled Google Pics from the I/O 2026 keynote stage. Google Pics is the company's new AI image-creation and editing tool, built on its Nano Banana model. The trademark reached the USPTO register a full day before the keynote audience heard the name.
GOOGLE FLOW, serial 99836648, was filed on May 20, the day after the keynote. Flow is not a new name: it is Google's AI filmmaking tool for Veo, introduced at I/O 2025. A fresh filing one year later — and one day after this year's keynote — reads as Google extending protection around Flow, plausibly to the capabilities it showed on stage.
That is the pattern worth watching: for the biggest names, the register is where a product surfaces before the press release, not after.
Samsung Electronics: PORTABLE SSD P7, SAMSUNG P7 WANDERER and SAMSUNG DISPLAY
Samsung Electronics filed PORTABLE SSD P7, serial 99844162, and SAMSUNG P7 WANDERER, serial 99844182, on May 25. It also filed SAMSUNG DISPLAY, serial 99830011, on May 18.
The P7 pair looks the most concrete. PORTABLE SSD P7 sounds like a storage hardware name, and SAMSUNG P7 WANDERER may be a variant, campaign name or sub-brand around that architecture. SAMSUNG DISPLAY is broader and could be defensive house-mark coverage rather than a consumer launch name.
Amazon Technologies: THE END OF LOVE and LOCAL TIMES
Amazon Technologies filed THE END OF LOVE, serial 99841157, and LOCAL TIMES, serial 99841151, both on May 22.
These do not read like shopping-service names. THE END OF LOVE has title energy — film, series, book, podcast or game would all be plausible buckets from the wording alone. LOCAL TIMES could fit local media, community information or another place-based product concept. Neither should be treated as launched from the filing alone — LOCAL TIMES, in particular, is one to watch.
Samsung HME America: CLARION
Samsung HME America filed CLARION, serial 99835032, on May 20.
CLARION is the kind of single-word mark companies reserve when they want product-line flexibility. Without the goods and services text in front of us, it may be equipment branding, a service name or broader portfolio housekeeping.
Big Apple Basketball: BIG APPLE BASKETBALL and BAB
Big Apple Basketball filed BIG APPLE BASKETBALL, serial 99838610; BIG APPLE BASKETBALL EST. 1999 NYC, serial 99838724; BAB, serial 99838686; and BAB EST. 1999 NYC, serial 99838592, all on May 21.
This looks less like a stealth product and more like brand cleanup: full name, abbreviated name, and established-date lockups. For sports organizations, that often means merchandising, licensing or enforcement preparation.
TTAB Activity
| Type | Filings | Prior Month | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oppositions | 681 | 752 | -9.4% |
| Cancellations | 222 | 254 | -12.6% |
Oppositions and cancellations both fell from April, but the plaintiff list is the story. Two Pop Mart entities — Beijing Pop Mart and its Singapore holding company — led the month with eight proceedings each, the enforcement footprint of a brand riding the Labubu collectibles boom and the counterfeiting that follows it. Further down the list, OpenAI filed five proceedings of its own: as the company's product surface widens, so does the set of names it has to defend. New Era, Hugo Boss, Inditex and Snap round out a top tier of brand owners that police aggressively. This is enforcement volume, not a merits read.
Registration Rates
| Cohort Month | Total Filed | Registered | Registration Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | 48,440 | 17,554 | 36.2% |
| April 2025 | 52,784 | 20,871 | 39.5% |
| March 2025 | 52,968 | 22,821 | 43.1% |
| February 2025 | 38,348 | 14,463 | 37.7% |
| January 2025 | 61,451 | 31,205 | 50.8% |
| December 2024 | 53,458 | 25,973 | 48.6% |
| November 2024 | 47,793 | 22,668 | 47.4% |
| October 2024 | 52,962 | 25,921 | 48.9% |
| September 2024 | 51,306 | 23,080 | 45% |
| August 2024 | 50,410 | 16,198 | 32.1% |
| July 2024 | 50,715 | 18,521 | 36.5% |
| June 2024 | 46,732 | 18,816 | 40.3% |
The mature-cohort view is mixed, with January 2025 highest in this table at 50.8% and August 2024 lowest at 32.1%. Use this table for outcome context; the May 2026 story is filing demand, not registrations.
Practitioner Takeaways
-
Do not overread the May dip. The same-month comparison and year-to-date total both show a stronger filing environment than the April-to-May move suggests.
-
Clearance in software and AI-adjacent services needs more room. Class 42’s year-over-year jump means more crowded naming conditions for SaaS, AI tools, developer platforms and technical services.
-
Watch product-like marks before the press release. Google's two May filings bracketed its own I/O keynote — one the day before the announcement, one the day after — while Samsung and Amazon filed names that may preview future product, content or portfolio moves.
-
TTAB pressure is concentrated among brand owners that police aggressively. Pop Mart, New Era, Hugo Boss, OpenAI, Inditex and Snap were all visible on the plaintiff side this month.
Methodology: figures cover USPTO trademark applications by filing date, from GleanMark's mirror of the full USPTO dataset (~14M records). Recent-month filings are ~99% pending — prosecution timing, not outcomes; registration rates use cohorts old enough to have matured. Firm totals cover filings mapped to a correspondent (~70% of the month). Informational, not legal advice.
Explore more USPTO data analysis on the GleanMark Insights blog.
More in this series
Previous: April 2026 · Browse all filing reports
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