A strong trademark should have the following qualities [Must-Know Tips]



Last updated : Sept 18, 2022
Written by : Jeanelle Klemetson
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A strong trademark should have the following qualities

What are the characteristics of a strong trademark?

Strong trademarks are typically creative or unique, setting you apart from your competitors. These trademarks include fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive trademarks. Fanciful trademarks are invented words. They only have meaning in relation to their goods or services.

What are the strongest trademarks?

The strongest types of trademarks are (1) fanciful or coined marks, such as EXXON for petroleum products; and (2) arbitrary marks, such as AMAZON for retail services.

How do you choose a strong trademark?

  1. Avoid trademarks that cannot be registered.
  2. Strength of the trademark matters.
  3. Choose words that are fanciful or arbitrary.
  4. Avoid descriptive and generic words.
  5. Avoid surnames.
  6. Avoid words that will cause consumers to be confused with another trademark.
  7. Avoid three letter acronyms and numbers.

What are the 4 types of trademarks?

  • Generic. A generic term is a common description that does not receive trademark protection.
  • Descriptive.
  • Suggestive.
  • Arbitrary or Fanciful.

What are three ways to create a strong trademark?

  • Avoid Trademarks that cannot be Registered.
  • Avoid Surnames.
  • Avoid Confusing Trademarks.
  • Avoid Purely Descriptive Words.
  • Avoid Generic Words in a Trade mark.
  • Avoid TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) and Numbers.
  • Use animal or plant names.
  • Use invented words.

What is a strong mark?

Legal Definition of strong mark : a trademark or service mark that is distinctive and is used in a fictitious, arbitrary, or fanciful manner in connection with a product — compare weak mark. Note: A strong mark is afforded greater trademark protection than a weak mark.

What is trademark strength?

Trademark strength, properly understood, refers to the scope of protection afforded a trademark by courts based on that mark's inherent and acquired: (1) tendency to signify to consumers a consistent source of the products to which the mark is affixed; and (2) ability to influence a consumer's purchasing decisions.

What is a good trademark?

A trademark must be a mark which includes a device, heading, brand, label, ticket, signature, word, letter, name, numeral, packaging or combination of colors or any combination of the above attributes. It should be easy to speak and spell. A good trademark is such that the public can easily spell and speak.

Which trademark has the strongest protection?

Marks that are considered “fanciful” are considered the strongest marks, and they are given the greatest protection. Marks that are considered “generic” are never given trademark protection.

What is a standard trademark?

A standard character trademark is one where the trademark has word(s), letter(s), and/or number(s) with no design element and no claim to any particular font, style, size, or color. An application for a standard character trademark (also known as a word mark) protects the word in all visual displays of the trademark.

How do you trademark a name?

  1. Decide on your unique brand name and logo.
  2. Conduct an online search.
  3. Fill-in the trademark application.
  4. Filing for the brand name registration application.
  5. Scrutinizing of your brand name registration application.
  6. Publication in Indian Trade Mark Journals.

What are 3 types of trademark?

  • Product Mark. Product mark is a mark that is used on a good or on a product rather than on a service.
  • Service Mark. Service mark is similar to the product mark but a service mark is used to represent a service rather than a product.
  • Collective Mark.
  • Certification Mark.
  • Shape Mark.
  • Pattern Mark.
  • Sound Mark.

What are examples of trademark?

  • Brand names like Apple, McDonald's, and Dolce & Gabbana.
  • Product names like iPod and Big Mac.
  • Company logos like the golden arches at McDonald's and NBC's peacock logo.
  • Slogans like Capital One's "What's in your wallet?" and McDonald's "I'm lovin' it"

What is trademark and its types?

What is a Trademark? Trademarks can be of various types; service marks, collective marks, certification marks, etc. Whatever the type of trademark, the purpose of the trademark is the same; to distinguish the source of the goods or services and assure the consumers of the quality of the product or service.

What are the 5 types of marks on the line of spectrum of distinctiveness?

There is a common term in the trademark world – The Spectrum Of Distinctiveness – which classifies marks into 5 basic categories: Generic, Descriptive, Suggestive, Arbitrary, Fanciful.

Are trademarked products a strength?

A Key to Trademark Strength is Distinctiveness. The strength of trademark is critically important to any entrepreneur, inventor or business launching a product or service in the marketplace. Goods or service trademarks, in the overwhelming majority of cases, can only be trademarked if they are distinctive.

What are the five categories of word marks?

Types of trademarks for products include five main categories: generic mark, descriptive mark, suggestive mark, fanciful, and arbitrary mark.

What are the elements of trademark?

§ 1125(a), the plaintiff must demonstrate that (1) it has a valid and legally protectable mark; (2) it owns the mark; and (3) the defendant's use of the mark to identify goods or services causes a likelihood of confusion.

What does a trademark look like?

TM stands for trademark. The TM symbol (often seen in superscript like this: TM) is usually used in connection with an unregistered mark—a term, slogan, logo, or other indicator—to provide notice to potential infringers that common law rights in the mark are claimed.

How different does a trademark have to be?

To get federal trademark protection, your mark must be distinctive and not likely to be confused with an existing trademark. When considering a trademark, focus on what you are offering, why it's different and what makes it stand out.


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A strong trademark should have the following qualities


Comment by Nelida Thakkar

how to select a strong trademark the name that you select to identify your business product or service requires a good deal of thought that name will become your brand that uniquely distinguishes your business from others lawyers also call a brand a trademark or mark there are strategies to develop a valuable mark the strength of a mark depends on two things one on how unique the mark is compared to others and two how well consumers perceive the mark as referring you or your company as the source of goods or services once you have narrowed your list of potential marks you must then first make sure the mark is not used by anyone else in the same field as you this is discussed more in our trademark searching video and second that the mark is on the strong end of the legal strength spectrum this spectrum recognizes five categories of marks from strongest to weakest fanciful or coined arbitrary suggestive descriptive generic a fanciful or coined mark is a completely made up word include kodak for film and verizon for telecommunications services this is the legally strongest and most protective kind of mark but it requires more marketing efforts to teach the public to link the mark to your business an arbitrary mark is a regular english word applied to goods or services with no relation to the normal meaning of the word examples include apple for computers and mobile phones amazon for online sales or shell for gasoline a suggestive mark is also a regular english word that suggests the characteristic or feature of the goods or services but needs some imagination by the consumer to connect the market to the particular product or service examples include airbus for airplanes kitchenaid for kitchen appliances and sweet tarts for candy the above three categories are called inherently distinctive arcs meaning they are strong and distinctive as soon as they are created and used these marks are the easiest to protect descriptive marks describe a quality purpose or function of the product or service and are generally not protectable until used or they have already been used exclusively by the owner of the mark for a substantial amount of time examples would include using the apple mark for apple flavored candy or the term best as in best beer in the world for beer or cold for ice cream while this kind of mark needs less effort to market it is difficult to register and prevent other businesses from using a generic term is not a mark because it only describes a category of goods or services examples include laptop for personal computers escalator for electronic stairways and aspirin for pain relief medication the last two were once trademarks but they lost their trademark status because consumers came to understand that those marks applied to all products like the original products they originally referred to not all marks are registerable when you select a mark consider selecting a strong marker that is coined fanciful arbitrary or suggested if you have any questions about how to get your work registered call or email us today


Thanks for your comment Nelida Thakkar, have a nice day.
- Jeanelle Klemetson, Staff Member


Comment by pastryktq

I want to share with you three quick but very important tips for creating a strong brand and Trademark the first is to select a unique name now it doesn't have to be unique in the entire universe of names but it should be unique in your field in your industry the second thing is to select a creative name one that's not too generic or too descriptive so think about some of the great brands and you interact with or see all the time like Amazon or Nike or Tesla these are outstanding brand names because they're creative and they're unique and they create a lasting impression the third tip for creating a strong trademark is to register it with the USPTO a trademark registration carries many benefits including showing up in the public databases allowing you to use the registered trademark symbol and giving you a very strong weapon in dealing with any infringement issues so the cost of registration really pays off because it provides a great value those are three quick tips for strengthening your brand if you'd like to talk more about how we can help work with your brand to protect and strengthen it give me a call you


Thanks pastryktq your participation is very much appreciated
- Jeanelle Klemetson


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