trading name/trademark name help ...

had an interesting chat yesterday with my patent/trademark lawyer.

no problem getting an innovative patent on the product, but he has concerns regarding the name i choose as my trading name/trademark.

the problem is that the name is somewhat descriptive of the product, and is a combination of two "everyday" words. apparently everyday words can't be trademarked (branded) and the trademark/brand can't be descriptive of the product.

ie, can't trademark/brand an apple as an apple, but can brand a computer as an apple.

and, if one thinks about it, most of the more commonly known trademarks/brands aren't related to the product at all - amazon, bunnings, bratz, russell hobb, google etc.

so ... i need some help. i can trademark the style in which my name is written, and the logo, but not the word - so anyone else could use the word.

i am open for some brainstorming ideas to get my own fog lifted (having been set on the orginal wording).

it is a product, not a service, so can't be "lizzie's stuff".

needs to have a double "t" in it, ie TT and is for a modern, funky product for cosmopolitan use. asides from that, can be anything.

i've already got:

aTTick
visTTa

and several forgotten at 3am this morning! if i could add a few more to my big sheet of paper and start brainstorming from there.

help ... :eek:
 
the problem is that the name is somewhat descriptive of the product, and is a combination of two "everyday" words. apparently everyday words can't be trademarked (branded) and the trademark/brand can't be descriptive of the product.
That's a pain ... I recently registered a domain that is a combination of two very ordinary, descriptive words and I was going to wander off and register it as a business name and so forth. I think I might have the same problem ...
 
How about the common names spelt backwards or even am anagram from your two common names.

Gives you the satisfaction of still using the words you want but in a different way.

Cheers
 
thanks guys. took one of the stepkids for a 5 hour driving lesson today, so had plenty of time to think.

possibly looking at one of:

mesarTTe
d'arTTe

or just plain old

arTTe
 
the problem is that the name is somewhat descriptive of the product, and is a combination of two "everyday" words. apparently everyday words can't be trademarked (branded) and the trademark/brand can't be descriptive of the product.

Maybe you can alter those 2 words in a way that still describes the product, but become new words.
A non descriptive product name is not an easy sell.
 
I ended up picking my last 'interesting' name purely from what domains were available. It is a vaguely interesting, unique made-up word. I registered it as a business name to get a .com.au but ended up letting both lapse and keeping the .com. Tis not in my sig because it does its own thing quite nicely without being promoted. Pays for the hosting on all my other websites and often covers the IP mortgage too so I'm not complaining :)
 
Registering a domain name, biz name or a Pty Ltd gives no protection or intellectual property ownership over the name of the biz.
Only a trademark gives any protection on brand names, words pic etc.
But technically you don't even have to register a trademark to have a "trademark".
 
"so ... i need some help. i can trademark the style in which my name is written, and the logo, but not the word - so anyone else could use the word."

That's not entirely true. If you can prove that it is use as a trade mark and/or some attempt to deceive or confuse consumers into thinking their product is yours or related to yours you have some protection by having the logo or a stylised version of the trade mark. That said it depends on whether the trade mark is entirely descriptive and whether the combination of the two words is likely to be used commonly to describe that type of good.

"That's a pain ... I recently registered a domain that is a combination of two very ordinary, descriptive words and I was going to wander off and register it as a business name and so forth. I think I might have the same problem ... "

A good way to check is to search your trademark in Google (on the full search one, not limited to Australia). If there are a number of hits for that word and it describes the goods/services for which you use the trade mark, then an objection will be raised by the Trade Marks Office. This is the first search that a Trade Mark Examiner will do when assessing the eligibility of your trade mark for registration. Unless you have extensive use of the trade mark for many years and have sufficient reputation/evidence to prove this, your prospects for registration are unlikely.

Another thing to check when getting a business name is whether there is already a trade mark registered for that name. Sometimes companies/businesses/individuals do not register the business name if it is a brand only. If you use your business name as a trade mark there may be a case for trade mark infringement. Also, business name registrations can be closer in look/sound than allowable on the trade marks register. So just because the name is available on the business register doesn't necessarily mean it is available for use as a trade mark.
 
There've been a lot of cases where people have been using a name or image for some time and can prove it, so come out ahead in any lawsuits. I've been using my unique made-up name with the same distinctive logo since 2003 and never bothered doing anything special about it.

A good way to check is to search your trademark in Google (on the full search one, not limited to Australia). If there are a number of hits for that word and it describes the goods/services for which you use the trade mark, then an objection will be raised by the Trade Marks Office.
One of the perks of hitting something that hasn't been done yet on the Internet (until yesterday anyway) is there's absolutely zero related hits to the actual name and almost none (until yesterday) to the description of the service, other than people *asking* for that service or generally complaining about the lack of it. I have the word "safe" in my domain name which is incredibly common and innocuous, and paired with the other word I just get hits to "safe sex" so have to do the same seach sans sex :rolleyes: (which still doesn't turn up anything related).

The website with the almost identical service that appeared online (yesterday) has a dramatically different (and really crap) name that actually sounds misleading and can be read two ways - I have the good, clear, easy to remember one :) Both our sites will have the same descriptive phrase though, except his claims to be the "first and only". When mine is done he'll have to drop the "only". Then we can start playing "who's got the better product".

I wouldn't get too fussed about common words as long as they're not such a common combination that noone can find you with google on those keywords, or if you hit porn, warez, another company or something else horrible - be particularly wary of a google IMAGES search. I do the same search with potential baby names. My prospective baby name brings up boring looking people in suits and buildings, the SILs proposed name brings up dogs and Paris Hilton. Her other kid's name brings up baby boys and more dogs.
 
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