Trademark Filing
I'm starting a bottled water company and i need to find out if i'd be able to trademark a name for the brand. I'm not sure if the name that i want to use falls into the prohibited category below for trademark registration.
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merely descriptive or misdescriptive marks: the category of prohibited, merely descriptive marks can be broken down as follows:
descriptive of the goods (i.E., small for a subcompact automobiles;
descriptive of a quality or feature of the goods (i.E, fast for automobiles);
geographically descriptive (i.E., detroit for automobiles); and
descriptive of an individual by being primarily merely a surname (i.E., smith for automobiles).
Marks that are deceptively misdescriptive are also prohibited on the principal register. Merely descriptive marks can be registered on the supplemental register (see description below under types of applications), assuming the mark is not generic and is not disqualified under any other criteria. In addition, it is possible for descriptive marks to "become distinctive" by achieving secondary meaning. Secondary meaning indicates that although the mark is on its face descriptive of the goods or services, consumers recognize the mark as having a source indicating function. Descriptive marks and secondary meaning are described further in the bitlaw discussion of the strength of marks
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