Strong Trademarks are Distinctive
What is or isn’t a “strong” trademark is depending upon the extent to which a trademark distinctly identifies your business and your specific service or product.
In other words, the extent to which your trademark allows consumers to identify you specifically, as opposed to anyone else producing a similar product or service is the measurement of your mark’s strength.
A trademark that is too generic or merely describes the product or service being marketed is a weak trademark because it doesn’t tell consumers whether YOU produced THIS particular product.
Detroit Trademark Attorney: 5 Categories of Distinctiveness
U.S. courts have generally classified marks into 5 categories of increasing distinctiveness:
- Generic
- Descriptive
- Suggestive
- Arbitrary
- Fanciful
Generic Marks
A completely generic mark would not receive trademark protection. This is a mark that simply embodies the term of common usage for for the product or service it relates to.
An example would be “water.” Such a mark would not tell the consumers anything about who bottled the water, what its source was, what else may be added to it, or what chemical processes may have been utilized. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will not offer any protection to such a mark.
Descriptive Marks
A descriptive mark is a word or phrase of ordinary meaning that simply describes the product or services offered. An example might be “Legal Services” for a law firm. What sort? Provided by whom? Where?
A descriptive mark can receive registration protection if it has acquired a secondary meaning. That is, if the term has been used extensively enough that, despite the fact that it merely describes something, it still identifies a particular product or service from a specific source, it might still pass muster.
Suggestive Marks
A suggestive mark is a word or phrase which requires “… imagination, thought and perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of the goods.” (Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4)
It is short of being directly descriptive of the product or service, in other words.
A suggestive mark is entitled to the protection of trademark registration protection–but it is still not the strongest sort of mark available.
Arbitrary Marks
An arbitrary mark is a common word that is employed outside of its everyday usage to convey a connection to a specific product or service with a specific source.
An example would be Pegasus Airlines, the Pegasus being the famous winged horse of Greek mythology. Here, it denotes a low-cost Turkish airline.
Such a mark is eligible for registration and USPTO protection.
Fanciful Marks
A “fanciful” or inherently distinctive mark is presumed to be registrable as it is a created term, or invented word, that has no outside meaning in any context.
There are a host of easy examples, including Kodak, Pepsi, and others.
Spectrum of Distinctiveness
The strength of a trademark is often illustrated in the form of the “spectrum of distinctiveness” below. This image depicts a sliding scale. If your trademark is totally generic, it will exist on the far left end of the spectrum. If it is fanciful and completely unique, it will rest on the opposite, right side of the spectrum.
You want your trademarks to fall on the right-most side of this spectrum. Or as close as you can get to that end of the scale.
The Bottom Line on Strong Trademarks in Michigan
The bottom line is that, when creating a brand, understanding the 5 categories of strength of registrability is key. A strong trademark will breeze through the USPTO registration process. More importantly, it will distinctly identify your product or service for as long as you need it to.
Noble Path Legal PLLC is a boutique US law practice located in Metro Detroit offering trademark legal services nationwide. We offer business and real estate transactional services and bankruptcy services to Michigan residents.
Click the “Register Your Trademark” button below to schedule your initial consultation and to begin your brand protection journey.