Categories Of Trademarks
Trademark is an intellectual property right that safeguards certain images, words etc of a firm from being misused by others. The main objective of trademarks is to ensure that the customers are not under any confusion with respect to the source of the product.
One of the critical requirements for a trademark is that it should be distinctly identifiable and not be similar to other marks that are already there in the market. This uniqueness of trademarks is recognized by dividing them into four essential categories – suggestive, descriptive, generic, and arbitrary or fanciful.
A descriptive mark is one that provides description of a product in terms of its quality or features like odour, functionality, form etc. Unlike other marks that are unique to a particular product, a descriptive mark is not distinctive and can not usually be trademarked unless it has acquired a secondary identification and the customers begin associating it exclusively with the product.
Suggestive marks are indicators to a particular product aspect or quality. However, it is mostly the case that the mark and the product do not show any obvious relation and the customers might have to guess the link between the two. For instance, ‘Hush Puppies’ is a popular brand name that markets shoes that ensure comfort and protect your feet from becoming sore. The prime reason behind such a name is that ‘barking dogs’ is used as a slang for sore feet in some places in America.
On the other hand, arbitrary marks are those that are not linked to the commodity. For instance, there is no justifiable connection between the symbol of a half bitten apple and the brand name ‘Apple’ to the computer manufacturer. Similarly, arbitrary marks are those that come from the creative imagination of the manufacturer or come from old languages like Latin and Greek.
Lastly generic marks are the ones that represent a general category of the item such as ‘olive oil’, and they do not come under the purview of trademark laws.
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