Free, unlimited access to more than half a million articles one-article limit removed from the diverse perspectives of 5, leading law, accountancy and advisory firms. We need this to enable us to match you with other users from the same organisation.
It is also part of the information that we share to our content providers "Contributors" who contribute Content for free for your use. Learn More Accept. Intellectual Property. Your LinkedIn Connections with the authors. To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq. Heliane Fabian. United States Intellectual Property Trademark. Trademarks Comparative Guide for the jurisdiction of India, check out our comparative guides section to compare across multiple countries.
The article also examines the 30 Federal Circuit cases, including their exemplary patent claims, that found eligibility upon Alice challenges. In most cases, a patent holder's right to collect damages and exclude others from practicing the claims of a U. KSR International Co. Teleflex Inc. Supreme Court, April Sughrue Mion. In this article, we will compare two applications, one in the U. Sign Up for our free News Alerts - All the latest articles on your chosen topics condensed into a free bi-weekly email.
Register For News Alerts. Article Tags. NOV Securitisation Outlook and Key Tax Updates for More Webinars. If a device is merely descriptive, it is not a mark at all, since it does not serve to identify the source of the goods or services.
No trademark rights are granted to merely descriptive marks. Misdescriptive marks are equally weak. As explained in connection with suggestive marks above, descriptive marks are often difficult to distinguish from suggestive marks.
Putting this distinction into practice can be very difficult. Merely descriptive marks can be registered federally on the Supplemental Register see the BitLaw discussion on federal registration of trademarks for more information. The following imaginary marks could be considered merely descriptive for computer peripherals:. However, it is possible for descriptive marks to "become distinctive" by achieving secondary meaning.
Secondary meaning indicates that although the mark is on its face descriptive of the goods or services, consumers recognize the mark as having a source indicating function. Once it can be shown that a descriptive term or phrase has achieved this "second meaning" the first meaning being the generally understood meaning of the term or phrase , a protectable trademark is developed.
Secondary meaning can be achieved through long term use, or large amounts of advertising and publicity. The acquisition of secondary meaning is often proven through the use of consumer surveys, that show that consumers recognize the mark as a brand, such as "FORD", as opposed to a descriptive term, such as "reliable". When you want to pick a brand and trademark which comes to mean something special and only designates you in the market.
Resist your temptation to choose a descriptive word or phrase for your trademark or even a descriptive domain name. Instead, come up with a unique word or phrase which will provide for strong trademark protection and can only mean your company, good or service in the market. If your products and services are good, people will quickly come to know you as your brand and went consumers say your brand name, everyone will know they are talking about you.
Inexperienced trademark registration attorney can help you pick a name for your company, good or service which has the potential to achieve strong trademark rights from early in your business model.
Retaining a trademark lawyer while you are trying to think of good trademark names will help you understand which names are potentially strong trademarks and which names are potentially weak trademarks. Any good trademark registration attorney will encourage you to avoid descriptive trademarks and pick something more creative and arbitrary. Descriptive trademarks are the most common marks which new companies and startup companies seem to gravitate towards.
It seems that new businesses really like their company name to describe what they do. The thinking is that if they pick a descriptive word for their company name they will get more business. Trademark law attorneys who help companies with branding issues almost always push their client to consider a suggestive, arbitrary or fanciful trademark for their name.
These are the stronger trademarks and much easier to protect from infringement. Whether you are facing a trademark infringement, licensing, monitoring or trademark registration issue, we have a trademark attorney ready to answer your questions. If you are a company able to pay a reasonable legal fee each month, please contact us today.
0コメント