Episode notes
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) won’t grant trademark protection to business names that are purely generic (e.g., “The Coffee Shop” for a café) or merely descriptive without acquired distinctiveness (e.g., “Cold & Refreshing” for a bottled water brand). Here’s why:
- Generic Names Can’t Be Owned. A generic term is simply the common name for a product or service. No one business can claim exclusive rights to “Pizza Restaurant” or “Lawn Care Services” because those terms must remain available for everyone in the industry to use. You can have those in your name, but you’d better also have something non-generic and non-descriptive with them, like “Bluebird Pizza Restaurant” (unless you are in a town named Bluebird, because locations are also a no-go as generic).
- Descriptive Names Are Weak.