What Are Generic, Descriptive, Suggestive Trademarks? | Trademark Factory® FAQ
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
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What Are Generic, Descriptive, Suggestive, Arbitrary, Fanciful Trademarks?
Andrei, the founder of Trademark Factory®, answers this frequently asked question in this video.
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There are 5 degrees how trademarks are measured in terms of their strength. Some of them are registrable, and some of them are not.
Least registrable trademarks are generic trademarks. A trademark that is simply the common name for the product or the service is called generic. If I am selling pens, the word “Pen” would be generic if somebody wanted to trademark that. If I am selling cars I can’t trademark the word “Car.” If I am selling the trademarking services, I can’t register the phrase “Trademarking services”, or just “Trademarking,” or “Trademark.”
Slightly above that are descriptive trademarks. Descriptive trademarks are more than just naming the product but they do nothing more than tell the market about certain characteristics, or features, or benefits of your product or service. So if you’re selling printers, you can’t trademark the word “Color,” because that’s the feature of your printers. Or if you’re selling accounting services, “Timely Accounting Services” would be a descriptive trademark. It is not generic-it would be generic, if it had been simply “Accounting,”-because you’re adding something to it, but what you’re adding is only a description of the characteristic of your product or service. So “Timely Accounting Services” or “Pure Gold Bracelets”... Again, the name of the product is “Bracelets”-it’s generic; “Gold”-that’s descriptive; “Pure Gold”-still descriptive.
Above that there are suggestive marks. Suggestive marks are those that give the customer some idea about your product or service, but they don’t just describe a main feature, or main characteristic, or one of the main features or characteristics, in a way that adds nothing to the trademark in terms of identity. So the good example here would be “Trademark Factory®”. When you hear the phrase “Trademark Factory”, you know that what we offer is trademarking services, but really, the word “Factory” does not tell you exactly how we are different from others, how are we better than others, it doesn’t tell you anything except that in some shape or form, we offer trademarking services. That’s a suggestive mark.
Above that, there are arbitrary marks. They use dictionary words that have nothing to do with the product or the service. And the best example here is “Apple.” Apple is not in the business of selling apples, otherwise it would have been a generic mark. But they use the word “Apple” to sell computers and phones and software. And none of this has anything to do with apples. So they use a dictionary word in connection with unrelated products and services, thus making it an arbitrary mark.
And finally there are fanciful trademarks. When you come up with a word that did not exist, that means nothing, it’s not in the dictionary and you just came up with that name and thought it would be a great name for a product or a service, and you give it that name-and it’s also very trademarkable. A good example for that would be-and there are so many of them-and something tells me, if I come up with a name as an example, I would get some comments that actually this means something in some other language, but I’m still going to give it a try. And if I’m wrong with an example, you’re welcome to post your comments and correct me, but you’ll still get the point. So for example, “Sony” or “Yamaha”. This means nothing, at least in English. Some of the most famous fanciful trademarks are Xerox, Kodak, and Exxon.
Some other good words that used to be fanciful marks are “Escalator”, “Aspirin,” and “Linoleum.” They used to be fanciful marks that mean nothing, that did not exist, but now they are generic marks or very close to generic marks in case of Aspirin. Somebody came up with a name, they gave this name to a product. But they became so prevalent on the marketplace that people started using those names as generic names. Google is another good example of a trademark that may be on its way to becoming generic.
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I actually had one more Q! I searched the uspto website and some searches have many people trademarking the same exact name. Furthermore, if you search "APPLE" a chinese company shows up. We don't even see the big tech company Apple listed. What's the deal? Do people not need to trademark some times?
Exactly. Because nobody owns the word "apple" by itself. The tech company owns it for phones, tablets, computers, software, and other products and services that they sell. But someone else can own the same trademark for something completely unrelated. For example, water safety courses or shoelaces.
Thank you ........👍
hello, it's me again if my brand had the word "TOP" in its name when sent through for the trademarking process, would that have a negative effect when it comes to deciding whether or not I get approved?
It would depend on how trademarkable the brand is WITHOUT the word TOP. If the brand is unregistrable without the "TOP" modifier, it will not become more registrable simply because you added TOP to it. But neither will it become LESS registrable simply because you have added TOP. Let's say, you're in the business of selling tacos. You will not be able to trademark TOP TACOS because no restaurant can own the word tacos by itself. But-unless there are prior confusingly similar marks-you would likely be able to trademark JUKEBOX TACOS. And if that's true, then you would also be able to trademark TOP JUKEBOX TACOS as well.
@@trademarkfactory I think I understand, I’m gunna keep reading it over it but thank you again for taking the time to reply 💙🙏
Hi,
you really gave one the best content on that subject here, if just you are not that expensive i would go with you
Not getting it done or not getting it done right is significantly more expensive. Thank you for your feedback on the video ;) glad it helped.
OK....!!!!
Im learning.....I commented on your other videos, with my TradeMark idea!!
On this subject, Is it possible to trademark a graphical logo of a descriptive Unregisterable text as long as the graphics are unique?
Depends how far on the unregistrable scale the unregistrable text is and how unique is the design element of the logo. So to answer your question literally, the answer is yes, it is possible. But to put in into context, it's not ALWAYS possible. Hope this helps. I'll also shoot a video on this one.
Thank You, Finally i found my answers !
Shame on youtube engine for not showing your videos at the top.
Glad you're finding value in these videos. Let me know if you need help protecting your brand.
@@trademarkfactory Absolutely.
Can you also be contacted for cases of trademark litigations, or is it only for trademark registration?
Can someone really trademark something so simple such as "red door" or "brown egg" ?? These are just objects and colors. Any clarification?
If someone can trademark something so simple as “apple”, why not “red door” or “brown egg”-as long, of course, as you are not in the business of making or installing doors or selling eggs.
@@trademarkfactory such a bummer! that means any simple name is probably taken :(
@@FesliyanStudios Absolutely not. There are over 600,000 trademark applications filed in the US every year. There are plenty of words out there. It's not about owning the word. It's about owning a mental link between the word and your particular products and services you sell. Big difference.
Thanks! :)
Hello, i have a question what are the countries that allow the registration of personal names as trademark without acquiring secondary meaning? i cant seem to find the exact info on the internet
This may help:
www.dropbox.com/s/dgxkp37wkvkivth/2017%20-%20Trademarks.pdf?dl=0
Is vitaminwater and Rubbermaid descriptive Trademarks?
I don't see why Rubbermaid would be descriptive. What characteristics of Rubbermaid products does the word "rubbermaid" describe?
As for VitaminWater, they did receive several office actions where the examiner was of the opinion that the mark was descriptive, but were able to provide evidence of what's called "acquired distinctiveness", to prove that people recognize VitaminWater as a brand, rather than just a term to refer to a type of a product. There was a long back-and-forth around it, but eventually the brand owner succeeded. Also, note that this trademark was filed in 1999, when the rules for descriptiveness were a lot less strict than they are today.
Hope this helps.
The words "My Mom" is trademarked, and it doesn't appear to have a graphic to it, (texts only).
So if I was to make a tee shirt that says "My Mom is awesome" (text only) and sold them would that violate their trademark.
Also what if I made a tee shirt that said "My Mom" (text only) and sold them but it was done in a way that would not Identify the company who owns the trademark. Would that violate their trademark
In your example, which, I assume is hypothetical, adding "is awesome" would not result in a brand that is sufficiently different from the original to no longer constitute trademark infringement.
And your second example is the dictionary definition of trademark infringement, i.e. using someone else's trademark without the owner's consent.
Can you tell me different between suggestive trade mark and descriptive?
I can't do it any better than I did in the video.
How about Crown Body and Soul? For a salon.
It would be close to suggestive as it may suggest, through a crown->royal->elite connection, that the salon is offering very high-quality services. Unless there are other similar marks, the name would be registrable.
Thanks for replying🙂 The crown actually represents hair but it probably is best that they see it as royal instead🤔
@@crownbodyandsoulllc9222 See, THIS is exactly the difference between clearly descriptive and suggestive marks. Suggestive marks can suggest different things to different people, whereas descriptive marks are straightforward in referring to something very specific.
When will Google become a generic name and will they lose their trademark because of that
It was challenged but they managed to survive. For now. If and when the name is deemed generic, yes, they will lose their trademark status. But not yet.
Hi I have a question.. if I want to make a game that have a similar name as a popular game... you may know that there is a game from Hasbro that is called "Mouse Trap" so I wonder if there is any problem with me using a name that contain mouse trap in?
Hasbro game is a 3d boardgame with a king of little trap for the mouse that look like a jail...
Now the game I build is called "ninja mouse trap" it is a game that contain mouse traps (not real but toys) that players will need to avoid stepping on while trying to find the cheese.. So basically I do use mouse trap in my game name because those words describe my game... and also use ninja that make this a more suggestive name I guess...
My question is will I be able to get a trademark name or design trademark?
and if i do can I get sued by hasbro?
what are your thoughts!?
Thanks for helping
Hasbro owns the NAME "MOUSE TRAP" in connection with board games. They don't own the monopoly on using utilizing mouse traps as game elements. As long as you don't focus the marketing of your game on mouse traps, you should be OK. Having said that, yes, Hasbro can sue you if they feel you went too far into their territory-even if they're wrong.
PS. Please note that I have not seen your game and my comment above does not constitute and should not be relied on as legal advice for your particular situation.
@@trademarkfactory Hi and thank you very much for your reply.
I tried to name it something els but I can't without using the word "mouse trap" because of the concept that is not steping on them (there is more but everything have absolutely nothing in commond with the hasbo game. Board game VS action game ask you play with your body). As I knew that the hasbro game exist so I created something to make it different then their brand. I created a carracter called Ninja Mouse and focus on it for the marketing. So Ninja Mouse Trap was the best subjective (Ninja Mouse) mixed with descriptive or may even generic (mouse trap) name for my game. I know that this is not professional advise but can you tell me what you think in percentage of chance that I can trademark this name?
If I decide to try to trademark the name can it be a good idea to contact Hasbro and ask them if they have any objection? I will let them know that we are a family that respect their brand and their game I actually had it when I was a kid and I even bouth it for my own kids as they are part of our life and our souvenir. As a family we build this new little game and would like to use those words mouse trap as it describe our game but by creating the ninja mouse carracter we create our own little brand to focus customers on itand be known for it and not for the mouse trap. We want to share with them our respect and intention so they maybe dont protest when they get the notifications that we are trying to trademark the brand. What ymare your thoughts?
Thank you very much for our discussions Trademarks Factory is a very kind and knowledgeable company.
Regards
Alex
...any last tough?
thanks
PS: By the way I like your videos great work!
What about "university of Cambridge" university cannot be trade marked but what about when you put the 2 together? OR Cambridge Cutthroat, cutthroats you cannot trade mark but with a geographical name added to it can it then be trade marked?
This is on a case-by-case basis, depending on the level of distinctiveness of the other word.
Can I ask?
Sure
What is considered to be geographic deception when the name is original but contains the name of a city?
Geographic mis-description usually only matters if the locality has some secondary meaning. In other words, if the location somehow defines or influences the quality or characteristics of a product or service. Also, it's important to see how unique the name of the city is. In other words, as much as I hate to say it, with IP abstractions don't really work. It's extremely fact-specific. But the general rule is, is there any value that you'd derive my misleading customers into believing that your product or service comes from a certain geographic location. If the answer is yes, you are likely in trouble. If you can show that there is no confusion and no benefit, you should be OK.
If you are considering registering such a trademark, you should definitely get a trademark search with opinion to make sure your specific name is safe. May I suggest: freeTMsearch.com