The type of trademark or brand name can determine how protectable the brand name is. “Strong” trademarks will allow us to file for protection that will prevent competitors from using a similar trademark to sell similar goods/services. “Weak” trademarks can still be used, but often we cannot prevent competitors from using the same names to sell similar goods/services.
Pick a “strong” trademark:
- Fanciful trademarks are completely fabricated words that do not exist in the dictionary (e.g. Pepsi® for soft drinks).
- Arbitrary trademarks are actual dictionary words that have no association with the goods/services you’re selling under the brand (e.g. Apple® for computers).
- Suggestive trademarks are words that suggest some quality of the goods/service that you’re selling under the trademark, but don’t explicitly state them (e.g. Coppertone® suggests that using it will make your skin shimmer like copper, but the product will not actually put the element of copper into your skin).
Avoid “weak” trademarks:
- Descriptive trademarks are words that describe the goods/services you’re selling under the trademark (e.g. “creamy” for yogurt). Descriptive trademarks are extremely difficult to protect.
- Generic terms are words that are the goods/services (e.g. “bicycle” for a bicycle or “apple” for an apple). Generic terms can never be protected as a trademark because everyone needs to be able to call a bicycle a bicycle.
When choosing a new brand name for a product or a marketing campaign, please reach out to Legal early in the process for a trademark clearance search to see if the name is available. Legal will also file for trademark protection, where appropriate.