Likelihood of confusion is a common reason for refusal of a trademark application. The USPTO will review your application and compare your mark to any existing trademark applications or registered trademarks.
Trademarks Online: Applications to file a Trademark or Service Mark registration can be submitted online through the California Secretary of State's bizfile California portal, in person at the Sacramento office, or through the mail.
Strong trademarks are suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary. Weak trademarks are descriptive or generic. Think about them this way. You want your trademark to be strong or “hot,” as opposed to weak or “cold.”
Trademark applications can be filed online with the USPTO. The application must provide a description of the goods or services for which the trademark will be used and a specimen showing how the mark is used in commerce.
If a trademark misdescribes a quality, purpose, function, feature, characteristic, ingredient, or use of the goods or services, and the misrepresentation would be credible or plausible to consumer, the mark would be refused as deceptively misdescriptive.
The first is Genericide, a term used when a brand name has become so widely used that it becomes synonymous with a general class of product or service, causing the trademark to lose its distinctiveness. For example, 'Band-Aid' often being used to refer to any adhesive bandage is an instance of genericide.
Nowadays, nearly half (48.3%) of all trademark applications filed in the US with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are rejected.
The McDonald's golden arches design is an example of a registered trademark in special form format. The company Nike registered this trademark in special form format, combining the stylized word Nike with their swoosh logo. The format of the trademark you apply to register affects your application filing requirements.