The term trademark implies certain symbols or words that distinguish the products of one firm from the other. The main aim of trademarks is to make sure that the consumers are not under any confusion in relation to the source of the product.

One of the critical needs for a trademark is that it needs to be distinctly identifiable and not be similar to other marks that are already there in the market. This uniqueness of trademarks is determined by dividing them into four essential categories – suggestive, descriptive, generic, and arbitrary or fanciful.

A descriptive mark is representative of the quality or some other features of the product like its utility or size. Although a few descriptive marks that have taken a secondary meaning in the marketplace, which the customers can recognize as coming from a particular source, can be trademarked, this is not the general case as descriptive marks are hardly ever unique.

Suggestive marks are pointers towards a certain product feature or quality. However, it is usually the case that the mark and the commodity do not show any obvious connection and the consumers might have to identify the link between the two. For example, footwear named ‘Hush Puppies’ are indicative of cosy shoes, which make sure that your feet do not become sore. The underlying reason behind the name is that ‘barking dogs’ is slang for sore feet in some states in America.

On the other hand, arbitrary marks are those that are in no way linked to the commodity. For instance, there is no real connection between the logo of a half bitten apple and the product name ‘Apple’ to the computer manufacturer. Fanciful marks are those marks that are not used in current languages and have come from the imagination of the manufacturer, like ‘Exxon’.

Finally, generic marks are ones which describe a general category of products like ‘olive oil’ and are afforded no safety under the existing trademark laws.

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