Can you trademark a descriptive term?
General Rule-No.
A Trademark may be refused registration on the Principal Register, if the mark is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of the goods or services to which it relates. A mark is considered merely descriptive if it describes an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose, or use of the specified goods or services.
Examples:
BED & BREAKFAST REGISTRY held merely descriptive of lodging reservations services
MALE-P.A.P. TEST held merely descriptive of clinical pathological immunoassay testing services for detecting and monitoring prostatic cancer
COASTER-CARDS held merely descriptive of a coaster suitable for direct mailing
According to the Patent & Trademark Office: There is a two-part test used to determine whether a designation is generic: (1) What is the genus of goods or services at issue? and (2) Does the relevant public understand the designation primarily to refer to that genus of goods or services? H. Marvin Ginn Corp. v. Int’l Ass’n of Fire Chiefs, Inc., 782 F.2d 987, 990, 228 USPQ 528, 530 (Fed. Cir. 1986). The test turns upon the primary significance that the term would have to the relevant public. The genus of the goods and/or services is often defined by an applicant’s identification of goods and/or services.
Only where the combination of descriptive terms creates a unitary mark with a unique, incongruous, or otherwise nondescriptive meaning in relation to the goods and/or services is the combined mark registrable.
Please contact a US trademark attorney at Grell & Watson 678-373-4747
We would be happy to discuss your potential trademark application and answer any trademark questions. We can trademark your product or service in all 50 states.