What Is an Example of a Trademark Law? 2025

Intellectual property protection can help many entrepreneurs, for companies big and small, protect the signifiers of their business, their creations, and their original work. Trademarks are a crucial aspect of intellectual property protection law. What is an example of a trademark law? Trademarks are indicative of a company’s goods or services and cover a range of characters, phrases, images, and designs that allow your company to be recognized by its customer base.

The Basics of a Trademark

Nearly anything can be a trademark, including any of the following or a combination of them:

• A slogan or phrase
• A word
• An insignia
• A logo or special form
• A design or a symbol
• A fictional character or mascot
• A sound
• A color
• A scent

It exclusively designates your company’s product as belonging to your company, providing recognition of the company’s brand. While you do not have total rights to the trademark and its use, you do have control over how it is used in relation to your product or service. It gives your brand legal protection and can help prevent fraud.

Formats of Trademarks

There are two formats for trademarks: standard character format and special form format. Each type affects what the trademark protects. You could apply for both formats, depending on the logo you are protecting.

1. Standard character format. This trademark protects the words, letters, or numbers of a trademark without limiting the protection of the font, size, design, style, or color of the letters and numbers. It gives broader protections than a special form format trademark.
2. Special form format. This gives more specific protections to a stylized form of a trademark, typically including the font, design, color, or other specifications of the trademark’s appearance. This form of protection is necessary when the design is an important part of the trademark. The look of the trademark is specifically protected.

The type of trademark form you apply for affects the requirements for your application. Securing these protections helps you protect your business.

Strong Vs. Generic Trademarks

Trademarks are most effective when they are distinctive and immediately identifiable as relating to your company’s good or service. The stronger the trademark, the better its legal protections will be. A more generic and weaker trademark is going to be harder to defend against use. You should also consider how easy it is to recall, say, and spell the trademark you are deciding on.

Strong trademarks are distinctive and creative and include the following types of acceptable trademarks:

1. Fanciful trademarks. These are invented and made-up works that only relate to your product and do not have meaning elsewhere.
2. Arbitrary trademarks. These are existing words that are not related to the goods or services associated with the trademark. Nike is the Ancient Greek goddess of victory and can be registered as an arbitrary trademark for athletic apparel and footwear. Adobe can be registered for software, Old Crow can be registered for whiskey, and Apple can be registered for computers. This is because they are unique within that industry.
3. Suggestive trademarks. These are words that suggest the effect or quality of the goods or services provided by the company without stating the exact quality.

Descriptions of your goods or services do not make good trademarks. Weak trademarks may not even be registrable. They include:

1. Descriptive trademarks. These are direct descriptions of a good or service. Only certain situations allow for the registration of these descriptions as trademarks.
2. Generic trademarks. These cannot be used as functional trademarks; they are common words used to refer to a good or service and do nothing to indicate you as a company.

While you are not required to register your trademark to have common law protections, registering it gives you significantly more protections and extends beyond your immediate geographical location.

FAQs

What Is an Example of a Trademark?

An example of a trademark would be the bullseye symbol for Target retail stores or the logo for Facebook. It can be a word, statement, catchphrase, color, or design that represents a brand. A trademark can encompass several of those elements in one and may even include a specific sound or smell. A trademark gives you rights to how the logo, slogan, or design is used with your goods or services.

What Is an Example of a Common Law Trademark?

A common law trademark can occur when you use your trademark in your day-to-day business and do not require you to register the trademark. They are limited to the locations where you used your trademark. There are other limitations on common law trademarks, including fewer protections and more difficulty proving your own rights to the trademark, as you must prove you were the first to use the trademark if someone else begins using it.

What Are Trademark Laws?

Trademark laws enable businesses to register symbols and phrases that identify their company, allows their customers or clients to recognize the business, and allows them to take actions against counterfeit goods or services. When you have a registered trademark, you do not have sole rights to the trademark in general, but you have the right to determine how the trademark is used with your business’s goods or services. A strong trademark provides you with stronger legal protections.

Is Coca-Cola an Example of a Trademark?

Yes, Coca-Cola is an example of a trademark, and the registered trademark exists in standard character format and in special form format. The standard character format means the words “Coca-Cola” themselves are trademarked, regardless of their stylization. The special form format means that the unique font and letter style of the Coca-Cola logo are protected. The company did not claim a specific color in any of its trademark formats; it can use the logo in any color.

Trademark and Intellectual Property Protection with Harrigan IP

Trademarks can have value for any business and help you build and maintain your brand. A well-known trademark can be exceptionally beneficial no matter how established your business is. When they are registered, trademarks have better bargaining power in licensing agreements, making them potentially even more valuable.

There are many types of intellectual property protection, and it is important you understand the most effective way to protect your creations. Consult with Harrigan IP today and determine what you can do to safeguard your business and its rights.