Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A name, symbol, or other device used to identify and promote a product or service, especially an officially registered name or symbol that is thereby protected against use by others.
  • noun A distinctive characteristic by which a person or thing comes to be known.
  • transitive verb To label (a product) with proprietary identification.
  • transitive verb To register (something) as a trademark.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective informal distinctive, characteristic, signature
  • noun A word, symbol, or phrase used to identify a particular company's product and differentiate it from other companies' products.
  • noun Any proprietary business, product or service name.
  • verb To register something as a trademark.
  • verb To so label a product.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word trademark.

Examples

  • A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

    Six secrets to a strong small business name 2010

  • A further trademark is the blokeish matiness between Jack and his many friends and associates, which he regularly uses to help his investigation along.

    Sunday Salon: Black Tide Maxine 2007

  • A further trademark is the blokeish matiness between Jack and his many friends and associates, which he regularly uses to help his investigation along.

    November 2007 Maxine 2007

  • A further trademark is the blokeish matiness between Jack and his many friends and associates, which he regularly uses to help his investigation along.

    Sunday Salon: Black Tide Maxine 2007

  • Designing a trademark is a multi-step process for us.

    branding Dean Francis Alfar 2005

  • After some small businesses complained about what they call "trademark bullying," Congress mandated a study of the issue.

    NYT > Home Page By PETER LATTMAN 2011

  • There is a “fair use” defense in trademark law that protects just these kinds of uses, where descriptive terms are being used in their descriptive sense; the right to sue for infringement of a registered mark is subject to the defense that.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Citizens United to stop the Citizens [who are] United Against Citizens United 2010

  • This claim about there being current litigation on the T&T trademark is a complete fabrication, as the owner of the T&T trademark, Flying Buffalo, Inc. and Rick Loomis, has said himself that he has not started any litigation regarding T&T.

    Outlaw Press/Jim Shipman Sinks To Demented, Pathetic New Lows In Art Theft Scandal « Geek Related 2010

  • Willie's D bottled up Tech's vaunted ground game, whose trademark is the long run.

    UGA coaches Bobo, Martinez shine in win over Georgia Tech - sports 2009

  • Copyright confers the exclusive right to control copying; trademark is the right to sue people who might mislead your customers, tricking them into thinking that a product that looks like yours came from you.

    Boing Boing 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.