A descriptive trademark is one that describes the goods or services with which the mark is used.  More specifically, it may describe the qualities, characteristics, feature, purpose, or function of those goods or services.  Of course, it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a trademark is descriptive.  The mark may fall into a gray … Read more

When the Trademark Office reviews your application, they are checking it in several ways.  They will check and see if you have submitted a proper specimen.  They also make sure that your mark is distinctive enough to be registered.  One check that they always perform is a trademark search.  This search checks to see if … Read more

As I discussed in a previous post, not all trademarks are created equal.  While Apple for computers is very distinctive, there are some trademarks that are not distinctive enough to warrant any associated trademark rights.  We call these generic trademarks.  No one can protect or enforce trademark rights to a generic mark.  In fact, a … Read more

Most people probably see a trademark used in combination with the TM symbol or the ® symbol almost every day.  But unless you have a business where you are consciously using trademarks, you may not know exactly what they mean.  And even if you are using trademarks, you may not know exactly how these symbols should be … Read more