A descriptive mark is a mark that directly describes, rather than suggests, a characteristic or quality of the underlying product (e.g. its color, odor, function, dimensions, or ingredients). For ...

Examples of initially descriptive marks that have since acquired distinctiveness as trademarks are JAVA ROAST® for coffee and CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN® for restaurant services. Descriptive marks are ...

Choosing a strong mark is critical to your success. Case in point: earlier this May we saw an update to the Trademark ‘War of Words’ over “Ugg” boots, which ordered Deckers’ small rival ...

NOPALEA Mark Merely Descriptive of a Product Derived from Nopalea Cactus. by: Intellectual Property Practice Group of McDermott Will & Emery - IP Update Blog. Thursday, May 28, 2015.

A recent US court decision allowing third parties to claim fair use of descriptive trade marks could deter businesses from adopting descriptive marks in the future. But Thomas Zellerbach and Diana ...

On February 28th, the Federal Circuit refused registration of two trademark applications belonging to JC Hospitality LLC. Both applications sought to register the mark THE JOINT. The CAFC found ...

For example, you can apply to register the package of a product as a trademark in which the descriptive element is only a part. In such case, the overall presentation of the mark will be protected and ...

Examples: aspirin, cellophane, zipper, monopoly (the game), escalator. Xerox successfully defended against generic use of its mark as a verb for “to photocopy.” ...