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A trademark can be anything used to identify goods or services, whether that’s a phrase, symbol or design. There are 3 different types of trademarks that can be either registered or unregistered.

Arbitrary and fanciful trademarks

These are the types of trademarks that are in no way connected to the goods or services they are being used to represent. Both arbitrary and fanciful trademarks are similar, however fanciful trademarks are usually to protect a word or phrase created specifically for the product, for example, Kodak. Whereas arbitrary trademarks are for words or designs used out of their typical context to represent a brand, for example, Apple. 

Suggestive trademarks

In some ways similar to arbitrary and fanciful trademarks, suggestive marks stimulate the consumer’s imagination to assign characteristics to a particular product, such as jaguar and puma, two different brands imparting the characteristics of the animals they’re named after. Though suggestive marks are less distinctive they can still be registered however is difficult to enforce certain trademark rights.

Descriptive trademarks

Finally, we have descriptive trademarks. This type of trademark describes the goods or services making them typically ineligible for trademark registration. The reason for this is a trademark for candy-coated apples could be used against competitors offering candy-coated apples. 

If you have a logo or phrase that needs a trademark, check out our How to trademark your logo in 5 easy steps blog.