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Trademark safety is granted for terms, logos and graphics that identify products of one firm as different from others. The main purpose of trademarks is to make sure that the customers are not subjected to any confusion in relation to the origin of the product.

One of the essential needs for a trademark is that it should be different, which means it must be unique and identifiable. This distinctiveness of trademarks is recognized by slotting them into four essential categories – descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary or fanciful, and generic.

A descriptive mark is one that describes a product with respect to its quality or features like odour, function, form etc. Although some descriptive marks that have acquired a secondary meaning in the market, which the customers can identify as coming from a particular manufacturer, can be trademarked, this is not the general case as descriptive marks are hardly ever exclusive.

Suggestive marks are indicators towards a particular product aspect or quality. However, it is usually the case that the mark and the product do not show any obvious relation and the consumers might need to guess the link between the two. For example, the brand name known as ‘Hush Puppies’ indicates a comfortable shoe range that protects your feet from becoming sore. The creative reason behind the brand name is that the problem of sore feet is known as ‘barking dogs’ in certain American states.

Arbitrary marks on the other hand have no relationship whatsoever with the any quality or feature of the item. For instance, the use of the mark ‘Apple’ for computers is totally disconnected from the product it signifies. Likewise, there is no relationship between the fanciful name Exxon and the products sold under the name as the name is a fruit of the creative mind of the marketing agents of the firm.

The final category of generic marks plainly describes the items, like ‘camping gear’, and they cannot be given any trademark security due to lack of distinctiveness.

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