Can I Use A Common Word As A Trademark?

Can I use a common word as a trademark? That's a question I get a lot and I'm going to spend the next three minutes talking about it. I'm Angela Langlotz trademark and copyright attorney, and I go live here on weekdays to talk trademarks and copyrights. So there seems to be this myth that one cannot use a common word as a trademark, and that is just not true. We do see all the time common words used as trademarks. What's an example?

Let's take a really well-known and famous one: APPLE. APPLE is a very famous trademark for computers and cellular phones and other computer peripherals, and it is indeed a very common word; one of the most common words in the English language. So, yes, you can use a common word as a trademark, but you have to make sure that you're not using it as a trademark or attempting to use it as a trademark for the goods that are named by the common word.

Let me give you an example. APPLE is a great trademark for anything but apples, right? So if you have an apple cart or of an apple stand and you're selling apples, yes, indeed, you may not use the trademark APPLE for those goods and services. Why? Because if we allow you to have the exclusive use to use the word apple with your business of selling apples, then because the trademark gives you the exclusive right to use that term in conjunction with your goods or services.

If we allow you to get a trademark for APPLE, it would prevent anybody else who sells apples from saying that they have a store where they sell apples. And that's not the purpose of trademarks. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish your goods and services from other people's goods and services. And if what you're proposing to use as a trademark merely describes the goods or in the case of APPLE, for apple-selling only is a a generic descriptor for the goods that you're selling,

we can't allow you to do that. It's not distinctive. So, yes, you can use an ordinary word as a trademark so long as it doesn't have anything to do with the ordinary word or the goods are not part of the selling of that ordinary word. So, yes, go ahead, use a trademark that's an ordinary word, but just don't use it for that thing. Right. So if you want to use APPLE, don't put it on apples.

I'm Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney and I go live here on weekdays to talk trademarks and copyrights. Message me on my Facebook page, Facebook dot com forward slash TrademarkDoctor.net with any trademark questions or copyright questions. You can also find me online at TrademarkDoctor.net. If you go to YouTube and search TrademarkDoctor.net, you'll find a whole video library right there.