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hi i'm experienced u.s trademark attorney morris turek people ask me all the time if it's possible to trademark a product name the answer is sometimes some categories of product names are eligible for federal trademark registration with the united states patent and trademark office while others are not in general the more unique and creative your product name is the easier it will be to register it as a trademark and the greater scope of protection it will receive let's first talk about generic product names if you're looking to trademark a product name choosing a generic product name would be disastrous under the law such a name receives no protection whatsoever and is ineligible for federal trademark registration under any circumstances for example if you intend to sell t-shirts under the name shirts spelled s-h-i-r-t-z you would be unable to protect that name because it's merely the phonetic equivalent of the english language word shirts which is the generic term for your products the downside to choosing a generic name for your product is that you cannot stop your competitors from using the exact same name for their products but the good news if you can call it that is that you never have to worry about being sued for trademark infringement and you don't have to spend any money conducting a federal trademark search or obtaining a us trademark registration now let's talk about descriptive product names a descriptive product name immediately describes a feature quality or characteristic of the product a good example would be the name rapid glue for a glue that dries quickly the problem with descriptive product names is that they receive a very narrow scope of protection and are initially not entitled to federal registration on the principal register although they may be allowed on the supplemental register generally speaking a descriptive product name must be in commercial use for at least five years and have acquired distinctiveness or secondary meaning before it's eligible for registration on the principal register so while descriptive product names tend to be popular because they tell consumers something desirable about the product they aren't a particularly good choice if you want a trademark registration or want to exclude others from using a somewhat similar name for the similar type of product now let's discuss something about suggested product names a suggested product name suggests something about the product for instance the name lava for a chili sauce would be considered a suggestive product name why because lava suggests that the chili sauce is burning hot another example would be sniffles for t for tissues most product names you'll come across in your daily life fall into this category unlike descriptive product names suggestive names are eligible for federal trademark registration right off the bat and receive a relatively broad spectrum of protection suggested product names are definitely a solid choice from a trademark standpoint now let's talk about arbitrary product names if you want to trademark a product name choosing an arbitrary product name would be a good idea an arbitrary product name is one that consists of a regular english language word applied in an unfamiliar manner for example if you wanted to use the word stapler for a tennis racket that would be an arbitrary use of the word stapler because tennis rackets don't perform the ordinary functions of a stapler arbitrary product names enjoy a broad scope of protection and are able to be federally registered with the uspto finally let's discuss fanciful product names a fanciful product name is one that's completely made up and has no meaning in the english language so the name yagzet for a brand of laundry detergent or really any product would be fanciful product name because it means absolutely nothing fanciful product names are eligible for federal registration and receive the greatest amount of protection under the law again i'm experienced u.s trademark attorney morris turek if you have any questions about whether you can trademark your particular product name please don't hesitate to contact me right away for your free consultation i look forward to hearing from you soon you
Thanks for your comment Dedra Rodeen, have a nice day.
- Barton Lebon, Staff Member
trademarks with three months after hi I'm on dreaming of the father of trademark factory the only firm in the world where license lawyers and trademark agents will help you trademark O'Brien with a free comprehensive trademark search for a single all-inclusive flat fee with a hundred percent money-back guarantee I'm famous for explaining intellectual property so that a nine-year-old when I understand and today's question I'm going to answer is how do you trademark product names there are a few things that you trademark product name service names taglines logos and few other things but product names for the original reason for trademarking you had a product physical product and you had a brand name attached to it that you wanted to protect so how do you approach trademarking product names ideally ideally you don't want to have the the type of your product trademark as part of the name so Apple did not trademark iPad tablets they trademarked ipad McDonald's did not trade mark big mac burgers they just trademark big mac so if you can possibly trademark your name without the description after it that's a stronger trademark that will give you a lot more ways to go against somebody else who may want to use your name for something close but not quite that's especially important for footed foot industry where there's a lot of different possibilities that the brand can be recognizable for the entire thing so if you can get away with not adding the specific things that you're selling under your brand don't add those things to your trademark application if however there are confusingly similar trainers or some on box that are closed and that point in time you may want to play with the name and maybe add that limitation so that you have a good argument that Oh that name was only trademark for pizza and it says da da da pizza and we're not selling pieces were never going to sell pizzas all we're selling his ice cream so instead of filing for da da da by itself you may want to file for debt into ice cream so that data pizza can do anything with you this is just one of many short videos or on providing specific no BS answers to your questions about trademarks so subscribe now and get notified as soon as a new video comes out literally we have a ton of useful content free watch that get educated about trademarks and let us help you trademark your brand and if you have a brand that you want to protect take advantage of our free comprehensive trademark search take advantage of our free registry ability opinion that we're going to prepare for you when you fill out the form at free TM source com we're going to tell you exact with your brand is trademarked ball or not and you'll decide whether the right fit toward feet I'll see you in the next video
Thanks Kimberely your participation is very much appreciated
- Barton Lebon
About the author
I've studied theism at McPherson College in McPherson and I am an expert in soil science. I usually feel hot. My previous job was answering service operator I held this position for 9 years, I love talking about soccer and dolls. Huge fan of Marcus Freeman I practice speed skating and collect cheese labels.
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