that is so confusingly similar to the generic term out of the language and just give it to you).
Some fine examples of very protectable brand names:
-XEROX
-KODAK
-BUBBA GUMP (for shrimp and seafood)
-ROLEX
Less protectable, but still excellent, trademarks are words that take a word that already exists and cast it into a meaning different from its etymological one: APPLE for computers is a fine example.
Acronyms also make good gibberish words. Think of your favorite phrase and see if the first letters of each word make a good acronym. “I Picked A Random Easy String” become “IPARES” which could easily be protected as a mark.
Then there are the yet-less protectable suggestive marks: WEIGHT WATCHERS and VISA are examples.
Descriptive marks include things like your name or a descriptive word for the product/service: SMELLY FISH MARKET or JOE’S SHOE SHOP. These have to go through a waiting period, being used in commerce for a period of years before the US Patent & Trademark Office will allow them to be registered. Even now-famous names like STEINWAY and STICKLEY had to go through this waiting period before their marks were considered distinctive enough to protect.
As I said before, marks that say what the product/service is are not protectable at all under trademark. FISH MARKET for a fish market? No.
Especially if you intend to operate globally, make sure your gibberish-word does not translate badly into some foreign language; you would not want to have a company or product/service name that is a rude word in another language. Thinking globally from the outset saves you going through the process again (and again…) and rebranding (an expensive process) for each country and culture you enter.
Note that a mark is very protectable AT THE TIME IT IS CREATED. Xerox Corp. runs the very real risk of losing its mark because the word may have entered the language too much; people “xerox” rather than “make photocopies.”
Marks that enter the language and become generic to mean the product or service can be lost to their creators, even if the mark was very, very protectable at the outset. Some examples:
-aspirin
-cellophane
-escalator
Once you establish a brand, it’s important to police the mark and make sure that it does NOT get used generically so you don’t lose your identity into the great maw that is the (very absorptive) English language.
It’s all about raising attention and being different, so that your clients can differentiate yourself from others in the market AND remember you.
You can decide between a descriptive name/word for your product, or an artistic name - eg “Volkswagen” and “Apple”. You start with thinking what your product or company stands about, or what you want customers and people to think about your product and company. From there you set
