The word “trademark” can refer to both trademarks and service marks. A trademark is used for goods, while a service mark is used for services. A trademark: Identifies the source of your goods or services. Provides legal protection for your brand. Helps you guard against counterfeiting and fraud.
To be trademarkable means that a word or phrase is capable of trademark registration. That is to say, a mark must meet certain requirements to be registrable with the USPTO. ... Not all words can be trademarked. In order for a term to function as a mark and thus qualify for registration, a mark must serve as an indicator of the source of origin ...
The word trademark, first recorded in the mid-1500s, literally is the mark (as a name or logo) that is proprietary to a business (trade). Trademarks are often claimed with the ™ superscript (a character that’s written above the line, as opposed to a subscript, which goes below the line). You can find that little floating symbol just about ...
What can and cannot be trademarked flows directly from this function of trademarks: to allow the market to tell your products and services apart from your competition’s. As I mentioned, pretty much anything can act as a trademark. It can be invented words—for example, Xerox or iPad. It can be dictionary words— like Apple or
Distinctiveness determines a word’s eligibility for trademark protection. Under the Lanham Act, words fall into categories: generic, descriptive, suggestive, or arbitrary/fanciful. Generic terms, like “apple” for the fruit, cannot be trademarked. Descriptive terms, such as “Sharp” for televisions, require secondary meaning to qualify.
Can Common Words Be Trademarked? Trademark protection can extend to common words, but with certain restrictions. For a common word to be trademarked, it must not be generic or merely descriptive of the goods or services. For example, the word “apple” is a common word, but Apple Inc. successfully trademarked “Apple Computer” and “Apple ...
Generic trademarks use a common word to describe the product, and have no protection under trademark law. An example of a generic trademark is SOAP for a brand of cleaning product. Descriptive trademarks primarily describe a feature, function, purpose or characteristic of the product, and are also very difficult to protect.
Back in 2011, The Ohio State University failed to trademark the word [1]” the,” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Court held, “In order for a trademark to be registered for a brand of clothing, the trademark must be used in a trademark fashion. In other words, it has to be used on tagging or labelling the products.
The word apple does not describe any products or services sold by Apple Inc., and that's why it was easily trademarked. It is considered unique, and thus its registration was allowed. However, if an apple seller wished to trademark the word apple, it would not be allowed since that would prevent other produce sellers from using a word that is ...
Trademarks are essential tools for protecting your brand and its associated phrases or words. To trademark a phrase or word, one must first ensure it is unique and not already trademarked. Then, a thorough search of existing trademarks needs to be conducted, followed by the preparation and submission of a trademark application to the United ...
To legally use a trademark in a business setting, you must use the correct symbol with it. If the trademark is registered with the USPTO, the symbol ® should appear after the mark. For unregistered trademarks, TM (trademark) or SM (servicemark) should appear instead of the ® symbol. The trademark must appear as it's listed in the USPTO registry.
Descriptive words are weaker (“Fast Horse” for delivery services, the word “fast” describes a quality of the service and, in some cases, can be used in other trademarks). It’s less likely that a strong trademark will allow a similar trademark to coexist even for different services or products.
For the record, neologism is a fancy term for newly coined words or expressions. As best as I can tell, "neologism" is still available to be trademarked. Though other common words have pending registrations, including even the word "the." Yes, "the" currently has 11 active trademark registrations.
What Can Be Trademarked? Phrases, words, symbols, sounds, and even colors are all eligible for trademark protection. Anything that identifies your brand and is used to distinguish your company or goods/services from other companies can be trademarked. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since ...
For example, you cannot trademark the word “fast” or the word “efficient.” 3. Geographical terms. Geographical terms that identify the original or location of a product or service cannot be trademarked. For example, you cannot trademark the word “California” or the word “New York.” 4. Personal names. Personal names cannot be ...
Key Takeaways: What Can Be Trademarked: Distinctive words, symbols, phrases, colors, and even sounds or scents can qualify for trademark protection if they distinguish goods/services in commerce.; What Cannot Be Trademarked: Items include generic terms, government symbols, and anything immoral or deceptive.; Types of Trademarks: Include standard trademarks, service marks, collective marks ...
How to spell trade mark, trademark or trade-mark. Trade mark is typically the British spelling. Trademark is the spelling used in America and used by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Trade-mark is the spelling used in Canada. Why is it spelt differently
At first glance, the topic of trademark eligibility seems obvious: Only business and product names can be trademarked. But the reality is a lot more complex. Knowing exactly what Intellectual Property (IP) can be protected with a trademark is pivotal for any creator or organization seeking to promote and defend their brand identity.
