Patent Attorney and Founder
This comes up a lot. And it’s a fair concern.
If you file a U.S. trademark under your personal name, here’s how it works.
There are two addresses involved:
- Domicile address
- Mailing address
You must provide a domicile address. Everyone does.
Individual or company. No exceptions.
Your domicile is where you actually live.
It cannot be a PO Box. Ever.
Now here’s the key point.
If you also provide a separate mailing address,
only the mailing address shows up publicly.
That means:
- Your home address goes in the domicile field
- A different address goes in the mailing field
- The public only sees the mailing address
Yes, the mailing address can be a PO Box.
If you don’t add a mailing address, the USPTO treats your domicile as both.
And that’s when your home address becomes public.
So if privacy matters, always add a mailing address.
One warning, though.
The USPTO has gotten very strict lately.
Like, really strict.
They now flag anything that smells like a PO Box in the domicile field:
- PO Boxes
- UPS stores
- FedEx locations
- Virtual offices
They catch it. Every time.
If they think your domicile isn’t real, they issue an Office Action.
And now there’s a $100 fee just for that correction.
That fee didn’t exist before. It does now.
As for phone numbers?
Yes, you can use a Google Voice number.
That’s common. And smart.
There’s no rule saying it has to be your personal cell.
Using a secondary number helps keep your real one private.
One last thought.
Filing under your personal name makes sense if you may close your company later.
You can still own the mark personally and license it if needed.
Short version:
- Domicile is required and private
- Mailing address is public
- PO Box is fine for mailing, never for domicile
- Google Voice is okay
- USPTO is watching closely and charging more when things go wrong
Clean filing matters more than ever.