Strong Versus Weak Trademarks

Strong Trademarks

strong trademarks are inherently distinctive
- they do more than describe a good or service
Trademarks that are unrelated to a good or service and are fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive are considered strong trademarks
- e.g., Apple logo has nothing to do with computers, but is recognizable

Weak trademarks are not inherently distinctive
- most common type is a descriptive trademark
- is descriptive when it describes the underlying product that it represents
- get protection when they:
  - achieve “secondary meaning”
  - the public associates the trademark with a particular good or service
- then it is entitled to full trademark protection
if trademark is descriptive and it has not yet achieved secondary meaning
- is listed on the “Supplemental Register”
Some types of trademarks can never be registered
- generic trademarks cannot be registered
  - not eligible because they describe a class of products and are not unique
- E.g., the word butter