Types Of Trademarks
The term trademark implies certain logos or texts that distinguish the goods of one firm from the other. The main aim of trademarks is to make sure that the customers are not under any confusion in relation to the origin of the product.
One of the key requirements for a trademark is that it should be different, which means it should be unique and recognizable. The uniqueness of a trademark can be assessed by placing it in one of the trademark groups – suggestive, descriptive, fanciful, and generic.
A descriptive mark is one that describes a product in terms of its quality or characteristics like smell, functionality, dimensions etc. However, descriptive marks are not as unique as some other marks and hence, they are not usually capable of being trademarked. however, if the mark has attained a secondary meaning that is more popular among the consumers, it can be successfully trademarked.
Suggestive marks are pointers to a certain product feature or quality. However, the relationship between the name and the good is not obviously evident and it might require some amount of guess work on the part of the customers to comprehend it. For instance, ‘Hush Puppies’ is a famous brand name that markets shoes that ensure comfort and protect your feet from becoming sore. The underlying reason behind the name is that ‘barking dogs’ is used as a slang for sore feet in some places in the US.
On the other hand, arbitrary marks are those that are not linked to the commodity. For instance, the use of the name ‘Apple’ for computers is totally disconnected from the product. Similarly, there is no link between the fanciful name Exxon and the items sold under the trademark as the name is a fruit of the creative mind of the marketing agents of the company.
Finally, the category of generic marks plainly identifies the items, like ‘sports wear’, and they cannot be given any trademark protection due to their vagueness.
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