See Also: Distinctiveness(law)
Distinctiveness Requirement(law)
Inherent Distinctiveness(law)
Ordinary Designs, Distinctiveness Of(law)

Distinctiveness (law)




The ability of a mark to allow the relevant consuming public to discriminate the source of a product or service. Distinctiveness is a prerequisite to trademark registration on the Principal Register. Fanciful, arbitrary, and suggestive marks are inherently distinctive, while descriptive marks are not distinctive unless used extensively enough to develop a certain level of market awareness, called secondary meaning.