Descriptive terms used in connection with a trademark do not meet the purpose of a trademark, and as such, are generally not registrable. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish an individual’s goods and/or services from another’s goods and/or services. If a consumer can instantly associate the terms with a quality, feature, function, characteristic, or ingredient of the product or service, the trademark is descriptive and will not achieve trademark registration.
The test to determine trademark descriptiveness is whether a term will immediately convey the knowledge of a quality, feature, function, or characteristic of the goods or services that are associated with the trademark. As such, if a proposed trademark immediately conveys information on one characteristic of the good or service, then the entire trademark will be ruled descriptive.
The USPTO examining attorney will determine whether a proposed trademark is descriptive based on the relevant consumers’ perception. Determining who the relevant consumers that will purchase the product/service are, is vital. The examining attorney is allowed to use evidence from any competent source in order to determine what the relevant consumers understanding of any given term within the trademark is. The examining attorney’s opinion must state a reasonable basis for his or her determination on whether the proposed trademark lacks distinctiveness and is simply descriptive.