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Strong Trademarks

The three strongest types of trademarks are suggestive trademarks, arbitrary trademarks, and fanciful trademarks. They are considered strong trademarks because they are inherently distinctive. Descriptive, merely descriptive, and generic words are weak or unprotectable types of trademarks.

When creating a business, choosing a name as a trademark is a very important decision. You must consider not just the marketing impact of the name but also the potential legal impact. While trademarks that describe the goods or services can help from a marketing perspective, from a legal perspective the best trademarks are those that have no relation to the goods or services at issue. Even better, the strongest possible trademark is a word that does not even currently exist which was the case with Exxon and Kodak.

Whether you are searching for a strong trademark for your company, product or service, or need legal assistance to protect your existing trademark, it is strongly suggested that you consult with a trademark attorney as early as possible to avoid unnecessary problems down the road.

For more information about registering a trademark with the USPTO, please see our trademark registration page.

Examples of Strong Trademarks

Before spending time and money to promote a new product or service, it is important to distinguish between a “weak” trademark and a “strong” trademark. Not knowing the difference could hurt you in the long run because the weaker the trademark, the less legal protection will be available to you and the more likely you are to run into infringement issues. So, what exactly is a strong trademark?

A strong trademark fits into one of the following three categories for its distinctiveness. Basically, the more unique the term is the less likely it will be in use by another company. Moreover, the more unique your trademark is, the more likely you are to be able to prevent trademark infringement.

What is a Suggestive Trademark?

A suggestive trademark suggests a characteristic or quality of a business or product but doesn’t describe it without some imagination or mental pause. These trademarks rely on the consumers’ imagination to connect the meaning of the word with the business or product. For example, by naming a car company after a fast, elegant animal, such as a Jaguar, the company is suggesting that its products resemble the best qualities of a jaguar. So, provided there are not similar uses in the marketplace, the name Jaguar can become a strong trademark for use in relation to the sale of automobiles.

What is an Arbitrary Trademark?

An arbitrary trademark is a word that has no relation to the goods or services at issue. Common words that already exist can become strong trademarks when applied to a product or service that is completely unrelated to the word. For example, Apple is a very common word that has no value to any company that sells apples. However, naming a computer company “Apple” is arbitrary because it does not describe a characteristic or quality of the products or services. Therefore, Apple is a very unique use of the word in relation to computers and can become a very strong trademark.

What is a Fanciful Trademark?

A fanciful trademark is a word that has been invented solely for use as a trademark. These are potentially the strongest trademarks because they are inherently distinct and therefore easier to protect under trademark law. For example, Kodak, Pepsi, Exxon and Polaroid are completely made up words with no other meaning outside the name of the companies that created them.