When the USPTO evaluates your mark to decide whether they will allow it to be registered, they look at how distinctive it is. They will not allow marks that are considered “Generic” or “Merely Descriptive” to be registered. See our previous post on Generic and Merely Descriptive marks.

The best marks are “arbitrary” or “fanciful” marks.

A generic mark is one that is synonymous with the common term for that which you are selling. So, “chair” would be generic for “chairs.” That’s easy enough, but sometimes a company’s success can be its trademark downfall. For example, “Xerox” became so synonymous with “photocopy machine” or “the act of photocopying” that they nearly lost their mark. They have fought hard to keep it, including taking out ads that instruct people on how to use their trademark. If you create something new and innovative, you have to be all the more careful not to allow your trademark to become generic for your products. One could imagine a couple decades ago, someone getting the trademark for “smartphone” because there was no class of goods known as “smartphones” at the time. But by now, that term would be generic for a class of goods made by many different brands.

If you forget your elementary school grammar, a noun is  “a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things common noun, or to name a particular one of these proper noun.”  Whereas, an adjective is “a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.”  A trademark is meant to be an indicia of source, meaning, you know the source of what you buy because of the trademark on the package, and so you can have a reasonable expectation as to the quality of your purchase based on past experience with that brand. Trademarks describe a thing, and that's why they are adjectives.

A Trademark gives you the right to prevent others from using your registered mark as an indicia of source on their goods or services. So, only Nike can use the word “Nike” to sell shoes and athletic apparel. Only Delta Airlines can use the word “Delta” with regards to airlines or air travel. However, Delta Faucets has peacefully coexisted with Delta Airlines for decades because no consumer really thinks they’re buying air travel from a faucet and sink maker, thus there is no reasonable “likelihood of confusion” that could lead to the consumer being harmed by that purchase.