Who You Calling Generic?: Responding to Generic and Descriptive Office Actions

Alt Legal Clarification: At roughly 20 minutes in the presentation, CHAPSTICK®, XEROX®, TUPPERWARE®, BAND-AID®, KLEENEX®, VELCRO®, VASELINE®, POST-IT®, VELCRO®, JEEP®, and JACUZZI® are all registered trademarks of their respective owners. There are no “generic trademarks” as a mark either fails to act as a source identifier or a mark is a source identifier and serves as a trademark for particular goods and services.

In this presentation, David Postolski, ABAIPL's CLE Officer, will enlighten practitioners on the strategic ins and outs of creating a durable and pervasive brand, especially one that uses words that may be deemed generic or descriptive by trademark offices around the world. Not everyone can come up with a fanciful trademark or have the marketing dollars for an arbitrary trademark, so many brand owners are resigned to creating brands and logos that may be deemed unregistrable by the Trademark Office. David will lay out the risks and rewards for choosing marks that may be deemed less distinct and discuss strategies to ensure protection is not limited. Topics will include:
* Discussion of generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful trademarks and the pros and cons of each
* Strategies for registering seemingly generic or descriptive marks
* Suggestions for overcoming generic or merely descriptive office actions

Everyone who’s registered for this webinar will receive an email with link to the recording.