The Trademark Office may reject your application for many reasons.  Several of these have to do with the distinctiveness of your trademark.  If you have a mark that is not inherently distinctive, you may need to seek registration on the Supplemental Register.  However, there are some cases where a trademark gains “acquired distinctiveness,” also referred to … Read more

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