on which the trademark is used. In other words, if you develop a type of motor vehicle, don’t choose a trademark such as “car” or “automobile” and expect to be able to prevent others from using your “trademark.” Descriptive trademarks are also usually poor choices if you intend to be able to prevent others from using an identical trademark. A mark is descriptive if it simply tells the public what the product is or does. For example, if your product is a telephone which may be used in an automobile, the trademark “car phone” would be considered descriptive, since it merely describes what you are selling. Similarly, a trademark such as “Minnesota Mineral Water” would be considered geographically descriptive, since any product coming from the state of Minnesota may be identified with the prefix Minnesota. There is generally no way that a person could prevent others who make a similar product in Minnesota from so identifying their products. This is not to say that either generic or descriptive words cannot be used as trademarks, but rather, no exclusive trademark rights will be created. If one merely wishes to describe what it is they are selling, and is not particularly interested in uniquely identifying themselves as the source of that product, the generic and descriptive trademarks would be perfectly acceptable. The strength of descriptive trademarks may be enhanced by establishing “secondary meaning,” which indicates consumer awareness of the trademark as an indication of source. The term “secondary meaning” simply means that a trademark is made up of a word that might be interpreted as merely descriptive, but because it has been used as a trademark for such a long time by a particular manufacturer, the public has come to associate that particular mark with the manufacturer in spite of its descriptive quality. An
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