Generic Terms Are Not – and Can Never Be – Trademarks. Since everyone deserves the right to accurately identify the type of goods or services it sells, to allow a single company to claim trademark rights to a generic term would impoverish the language and unfairly hamper competition.
Can you use a trademark name for a different product?
The short answer is that you can use a trademark belonging to another person or company if you use the mark for: informational or editorial purposes to identify specific products and services, or. if your use is part of an accurate comparative product statement.
What constitutes infringement of trademark?
In simple words, trademark infringement is the unauthorised usage of a mark that is identical or deceptively similar to a registered trademark. The term deceptively similar here means that when an average consumer looks at the mark, it is likely to confuse him/her of the origin of the goods or services.
Is Kleenex still a trademark?
Although Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, for many consumers, the word has become interchangeable with “tissue.” Other brand names that have fallen victim to genericization include Google, Taser, and Xerox. Even common words like kerosene and escalator were once trademarked.
Which word Cannot be trademarked?
A brand name which consists of the word which is commonly used in day to day life to identify the product cannot be trademarked. It may include kind, quality, quantity, values, geographical origin, and its characteristics.
Can you sue someone for using your trademark?
A trademark owner who believes its mark is being infringed may file a civil action (i.e., lawsuit) in either state court or federal court for trademark infringement, depending on the circumstances. However, in most cases, trademark owners choose to sue for infringement in federal court.
Can 2 brands have the same name?
Yes, you can have a company with exactly the same name. But, only if your business is not in the same “class” of business as the other company(s). Looking at a trademark search for “Virgin” (Trademark search at USPTO) there are 829 current and past trademarks that use this word.
Can a generic product name be trademarked in the US?
Remember that any name that can be considered generic is not able to be trademarked. Be sure that your product name is truly distinctive – a good rule of thumb is to follow the USPTO trademark strength conventions. The more the product name describes the product itself, the weaker the trademark is.
Can a word be registered as an unregistered trademark?
A word is a trademark if that word identifies a brand, regardless of whether the word itself is registered. However, unregistered trademarks with the USPTO are only trademarked within the company’s geographical area. Trademark rights for an unregistered mark belong to the company that first used the mark.
Is it trademark infringement to use a name that sounds?
If it’s totally different industries, you can use similar or even exact same name in some cases. But you can’t trademark Doka-Cola with cursive red and white design. You’ll get sued for trying to confuse the customer. There are basic rules that the examiner (or judge) is checking when evaluating the similarity between the marks:
What are the disadvantages of a generic trademark?
Genericide brings obvious disadvantages to the company: The trademark loses its legal protection, and any competitor can use it to promote their products The brand name loses value and distinctiveness, and advertising the product becomes harder
