Effective Trademarks: How To Select A Good Name

Your trademark is the most important asset your business will have. A good brand will set you apart from the competition and help you stand out from the crowd. A poor brand will entangle you in legal disputes and hinder your marketing efforts. Selecting a good brand name is as simple as following these guidelines.

First of all, avoid trademarks that cannot be registered. There is no point in investing in a trademark that you cannot register. Trademark registration protects you from competition, guarantees your property rights to the trademark, and makes it easier to enforce your rights against copycats. As you will read below, certain types of words are inherently poor choices as trademarks because they cannot be registered.

Avoid purely descriptive words. The registration of words that describe the nature or quality of the products or services sold with the brand is not allowed. Therefore, the trademark “Cold Beer” for use with malt beverages cannot be registered because it describes the actual product being sold. If you sign up, you would prevent someone from using the terms Cold and Beer to describe a malt beverage.

Avoid last names. Last names cannot be registered as trademarks. Therefore, the brand “Wilson Power Boats” is a poor choice for a trademark because the word Wilson is a last name (and the rest of the brand is descriptive).

Avoid confusing trademarks. You cannot register a trademark that is confusingly similar to a registered trademark. Therefore, the “Sun-Screen” trademark cannot be registered if the “Sun Screen” trademark has already been registered for a similar type of product. A search of the US brand database and / or the Canadian brand database is a good idea.

Avoid generic words in a trademark. The goal is to select a brand that is as unique and distinctive as possible; therefore, avoid generic words. Examples of generic words include “green, superior, American, Canadian, luxury, gold, economy, premium” and a plethora of others. If you incorporate generic words into your trademark, then you blend in with the crowd, you don’t stand out in front of it. Geographical words fall into this category.

Avoid TLAs (three letter acronyms) and numbers. IBM, CNN, and ATT are distinctive trademarks because their respective owners invested tens of millions of dollars to make the brands famous. Even a bad brand can become famous if you spend enough money on it. But acronyms are inherently difficult to remember, while words, especially colorful ones, are easily remembered. Therefore, “ELS System Solutions” is not as memorable as “Volcanic Silicon”. Similarly, avoid using numbers in a trademark, as they tend to be less memorable. Also, there are a limited number of unused acronyms available, so there is an excellent chance that your TLA will be mistaken for another.

Use made up words. Made up words are words that do not exist in any language other than its trademark. Examples include SPANDEX, EXXON, KODAK, VIAGRA, and several other famous trademarks. Made up words are a good choice because they tend to be quite distinctive. You can create a made up word by simply combining parts of other words. For example, MICROSOFT is a combination of “Microcomputer” and “software”.

Try names of animals or plants. The names of animals and plants tend to be quite memorable and, if used correctly, can convey a good image while remaining distinctive. APPLE COMPUTERS, TIGER DIRECT, and Ford MUSTANG are good examples.

Lastly, make sure the first word of your brand is as distinctive as possible. Descriptive words often need to be added to the brand to convey what is being sold or marketed in association with the brand. If generic words are to be included, it is essential that the first word of the brand is as distinctive as possible.