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Arbitrary Name
Names which do not bear a relationship
to the products, services, or companies they identify. Apple (a
fruit, not a computer), Pontiac (an Indian chief, not a car), Kodak
(a coined name), and Baby Ruth (a person, not a candy bar) are all
examples of arbitrary names.
Brand Architecture
The strategic analysis and development of optimal relationship
structures among multiple levels of company, brand, product, and
feature names.
Brand Name
A name or symbol used to identify a seller's goods or services,
and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Because a brand
identifies a product's or service's source, thus protecting against
competitors who may attempt to market similar goods or services,
companies have an incentive to invest in the quality, consistency,
and imagery of their brand. Branding dates back to ancient times,
when names or marks appeared on such goods as bricks, pots, ointments
and metals. In medieval Europe, trade guilds used brands to provide
quality assurance for customers and legal protection for manufacturers.
Coined/Fanciful Name
These include made-up names such as Exxon or Kodak. Also
known as Neologisms. These names, if truly unique, can offer the
strongest possible trademarks and are favored by trademark attorneys.
Consonant Cluster
A series of consonants pronounced together, e.g. /str/
in "string."
Descriptive Name
A name which describes a product, service, or company.
Descriptive names, such as Workgroup Server and Pacific Gas and
Electric, have content, but often are not protectable and typically
are not favored by trademark attorneys.
Descriptor
Often used in conjunction with a coined/fanciful, arbitrary,
or suggestive name, a descriptor literally describes the product
or service being identified. A brand name used with a variety of
descriptors across a product line is often a more economic strategy
than that of giving every product or service its own proprietary
name.
Dilution
The legal doctrine of dilution, recognized in the statutes
or case law of 31 states, applies to marks which are highly similar
or identical to strong, well-known trademarks. The doctrine stipulates
that the use of a famous trademark by any party other than its owner
will result in loss of the mark's distinctiveness - even when the
goods or services are not related and there is no likelihood of
confusion. Some names may be judged to be available because they
are already diluted; not, that is, the name is in use by a number
of different companies which may or may not include a famous user.
Full Legal Search
Trademark search conducted by trademark counsel, and encompassing
all classes and countries of interest.
Intrinsic Meaning
The content or native sense or significance imparted by
a word or name.
Linguistics
The study of the structure and development of a particular
language and its relationship to other languages.
Morpheme
In linguistics, any word or word part that conveys meaning,
cannot be divided into smaller elements conveying meaning, and usually
occurs in a variety of contexts with relatively stable meaning.
Native Speakers Panel
Master-McNeil's group of recently arrived native speakers
of a variety of languages. The panel reviews candidate names for
international appropriateness including pronunciation issues, negative
meanings, slang uses, and street or evolving language concerns in
the languages of interest to the particular project.
Nomenclature System
A system that specifies and organizes the naming relationships
among a company's brands, products, services, divisions, subsidiaries,
etc. A well-conceived nomenclature system will accommodate company
growth, and provide guidance for future product and service names.
Some nomenclature systems are comprised of many levels, with specific
naming guidelines for each.
Phoneme
In linguistics, a set of closely related speech sounds
(phones) regarded as a single sound. For example, the sound of "r"
in red, bring, or round is a phoneme.
Preliminary Availability Search
A search by Master-McNeil of Federal trademarks and common
law uses of candidate names, conducted to eliminate obvious conflicts
and increase the likelihood that a selected name will prove available
once the full legal search is conducted.
Proprietary Name
A protectable name which one is able to own and trademark,
as opposed to a descriptive name, which is not protectable or ownable.
See Brand Name.
Psycholinguistics
The study of how language is understood and interpreted
and how and why the individual responds to discrete aspects of language.
Service Mark
Similar to a trademark but used to refer to services rather
than goods. May be denoted by SM prior to registration (like TM);
denoted by ® once registered. See also Trademark.
Sound Symbolism
The study of the relationship between the sound of an utterance
and its meaning.
Suggestive Name
A name built on or utilizing words or word parts which
suggest or refer to the goods or services, but do not literally
describe them. Oracle and Safeway are suggestive. Suggestive names
are often protectable (unlike descriptive names), but may be weaker
as trademarks than coined/fanciful or arbitrary names.
Trademark
A word, phrase, slogan, design or symbol used to identify
goods and distinguish them from competitive products. Trademarks
may be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and
similar offices worldwide. However, in the US and in other countries
with legal systems based on English common law, trademark rights
also accrue through common law usage. See Service Mark.
Trademark Classes
Trademarks are divided into 42 international classes, each
comprising or composed of similar goods or services. Class 15, for
example, consists of "musical instruments," while Class 25 comprises
"clothing, footwear, headgear." There are 34 goods classes and eight
service classes. A name may be protected in multiple trademark classes,
assuming each class is relevant to the product's or service's business
area.
Trademark Search
See Preliminary Availability Search and Full Legal Search. |
