Descriptive Trademarks, Acquired Distinctiveness And Tips For Brand Protection

A recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has shed light on issues surrounding descriptive trademarks, with valuable lessons for organizations as they consider names of their products and services, develop and invest resources in their brands and their protection.

As their name implies, descriptive marks describe a product or service, with well-known examples including Cartoon Network, American Airlines and International Business Machines. Although these brands are now iconic, more often than not a descriptive mark does not reach such a level of notoriety. This was in fact one of the issues in the recent ruling.

A Dispute Over a Descriptive Trademark: Heritage Alliance v. The American Policy Roundtable