Generic terms = No trademark?

[ThreeD]

I was doing some research on company names and came up with a situation involving domain names. One person mentioned that generic terms can not be trademarked. Is that true? That would make dicitionary words much more valuable if they are the only ones that can be trademarked.

Anyone know anything about this?

 

[movingconcierge]

Common sense probably backed by common law would dictate that no one company or entity can lay claim to a common household or usual term for their own profit. I'd reg aspirin.com if it were available...and that is case and point.

 

[Midano]

Remember when Donald tried to trademark "You're fired"?

 

[Keynes]

It depends on the use of the term. You are free to use "Windows" and "Target" as terms -- but once you apply them to their respective industries (software, retail), you face TM issues.

 

[movingconcierge]

Even then there's probably wiggle room. But, good point, Rocket...I WOULDN'T reg BAYERaspirin.com...

 

[Dave_Z]

Any word can be trademarked. But there are lots of buts.

"Caterpillar" has at least 3 different regs for the same word at USPTO.

 

[Zeeble]

You may be able to TM a generic term for a certain industry.... remember one TM does not cover everything, which is why you often see multiple TM's for a single term.

 

[RJ]

Yep, generic terms can most definately be trademarked, though they have to be non-descriptive for the industry they are being trademarks for.

"Apple" for instance. It's a trademark of Apple Computers for use for selling computers. A farmer selling apples would not be able to trademark that term though because it would be purely descriptive.

 

[Iravan]

Hmm ncie Thread

Ok 1 more question id the TM is dead that means your free to reg a domain that includes the dead TM?

 

[Dave_Z]

Hmm ncie Thread

Ok 1 more question id the TM is dead that means your free to reg a domain that includes the dead TM?

Sure. But that doesn't mean the original TM holder isn't actively using it any
longer in the field they're known for.

 

[ThreeD]

thanks for the feedback guys. I'll see if I get to put up a TM for my company name - lets keep the fingers crossed