How should a trademark or service mark name be selected?

Aside from the personal and business preferences that go into selecting an appropriate trademark or service mark, there are legal limitations that must also be observed. Generic names like “Lager Beer” cannot be registered, because granting an exclusive right to use such names would create an unfair competitive advantage. Similarly, descriptive names, like “Frosted Flakes” for cereal, will not be registered on the Principal Register unless and until they have acquired a “secondary meaning”, i.e., when the consumers, usually as a result of advertising, come to associate the descriptive terms with a particular brand. Suggestive names, which indirectly refer to some quality of the product, like “Coppertone” for suntan lotion, are registrable, as are arbitrary and fanciful names, like “Apple” for computers or “Exxon” for gasoline. Proper names of living people cannot be registered as trademarks without the consent of the person.

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