Research · Quarterly · Q3 2026
US supplement trademark filings have stalled. Filings from China have doubled.
US owners filed 3,499 trademark applications for dietary supplements in Q3 2026, down 8% on the same quarter a year earlier. The count has held between 3,499 and 3,819 a quarter for five quarters.
Filings from China moved the other way. China-based owners filed 1,957 supplement applications, 31% of all supplement filings at the USPTO, up from 17% a year earlier. They came from 1,271 different owners, so this is not a handful of bulk filers.
Most US filers have not launched yet: 70% filed on an intent-to-use basis, before selling anything. 37% filed without a lawyer, and on past filings that group abandoned 54% of its applications, against 32% for filings made through one. By product, collagen (+66%), creatine (+50%), electrolytes / hydration (+33%) grew fastest, while probiotics fell 23%.
Filings by quarter
US-owned supplement trademark applications, by filing date. Abandoned applications are included, so older quarters are not shrunk by brands that filed and gave up.
China's share of supplement filings
Share of all supplement trademark applications at the USPTO filed by China-based owners. 2,817 applications in Q3 2026 came from outside the US in total; after China, the most came from Hong Kong (145) and United Kingdom (115).
What happens after filing
Applications filed Q3 2024 to Q1 2025, by whether they had been abandoned when we pulled the data. Abandoned means the USPTO closed the application, usually because the owner stopped responding or never showed the brand in use.
| Filed by | Applications | Abandoned |
|---|---|---|
| All US-owned filings | 8,959 | 39% |
| Filed through a lawyer | 6,011 | 32% |
| Filed without a lawyer | 2,948 | 54% |
| Owned by a company | 7,913 | 38% |
| Owned by an individual | 1,046 | 52% |
| Individual, no lawyer | 612 | 61% |
| China-based owners | 3,196 | 16% |
54% of applications filed without a lawyer were abandoned, and 61% of those filed by individuals on their own. A lawyer is not the only difference: founders who hire one also tend to be better funded and further along, so read this as a pattern, not as the effect of hiring a lawyer. China-based owners abandon far fewer applications (16%), which may reflect sellers filing to qualify for Amazon Brand Registry, which needs a registered US trademark. Some applications are still pending, so these rates can only rise.
What the new brands plan to sell
Matched on the goods named in each US filing. One filing can name several, and most describe goods broadly (“dietary supplements; vitamins”), so these are floors.
| Product | Q3 2026 | vs Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 482 | −12% |
| Pet / animal supplements | 419 | −13% |
| Probiotics | 287 | −23% |
| Gummies | 227 | −3% |
| Electrolytes / hydration | 195 | +33% |
| Weight management / GLP-1 | 158 | −10% |
| Sleep / stress | 104 | −20% |
| Collagen | 68 | +66% |
| Creatine | 66 | +50% |
| Mushrooms | 61 | −9% |
| Pre-workout / sports | 55 | 0% |
| Women's health | 45 | −12% |
| Greens / superfoods | 18 | – |
Where new brands are, and where makers are
Brands launch where founders live; makers cluster where manufacturing grew up. Utah, long the industry's production hub, has 24 makers in our directory for 90 new filings. Texas has 10 for 262.
| State | New filings, Q3 2026 | Makers in our directory |
|---|---|---|
| California | 650 | 35 |
| Florida | 589 | 30 |
| Wyoming | 265 | 0 |
| Texas | 262 | 10 |
| New York | 201 | 14 |
| Delaware | 155 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 115 | 15 |
| Utah | 90 | 24 |
| Nevada | 86 | 4 |
| Colorado | 82 | 4 |
State is the owner address on the application; Wyoming and Delaware are mostly registered-agent addresses. Maker counts come from our directory of 169 US makers, a checked sample rather than a census, so read them as direction, not totals.
If you are one of them
A trademark filing is step one. Format, maker and minimums come next, and they are where most first launches lose time. Start with how to start a supplement brand and how to find a manufacturer, or ask listed makers for a quote. We never sell or share quote requests.
Method
- Source: USPTO trademark search (tmsearch.uspto.gov), every application in International Class 5 by filing date, pulled 2026-10-20. Each quarter counts what was filed in it, as the USPTO records it on that date.
- A filing counts when at least one item in its Class 5 goods names a supplement (dietary, nutritional, herbal or pet supplements, vitamins, probiotics, electrolytes, protein powder, creatine and similar) and is not a drug, medical, veterinary, kratom or nicotine item. A hand check of 40 random Q3 2026 matches found no non-supplement filings.
- Counts are applications, not brands: a company filing three marks counts three times. The ten busiest US filers made 3% of Q3 2026 applications. Not every filing becomes a product.
- “Before selling” means every filing basis is still intent to use (Section 1(b)) on the pull date. Older filings drift toward “in use” as brands launch, so this share is reported for the latest quarter only.
- Counts only. No brand names, owner names or contact details are published or shared.