GE - Billy Blue Communication Design

Select secondary
word marks
according to these
guidelines:
Assess the advantages you expect to achieve.
New secondary word marks that offer sufficient
advantage to merit adoption also merit a longrange
plan for their establishment.
Begin with a trademark strategy.
Deciding at the outset what is ultimately desired
will make it possible to develop an effective and
consistent strategy.
Normally, both the marketing plan and legal considerations
influence selection of one of these
trademark strategies:
• Coin only the word mark. This, the most common
approach, assumes that existing language
will describe the product generically.
An example is Lexan polycarbonate resin.
• Coin both the word mark and a new generic
name. In this approach, one new term is introduced
as a GE secondary word mark, and at
the same time a second term is introduced as
a generic name because the Company has
invented something so new that no existing term
can describe it.
Guard against infringing on the rights of others.
A prerequisite to the adoption or use of a
new word mark by GE is that it not infringe
on the trademark rights established by others.
Bear in mind that more than a half million
trademarks are registered in the U.S. Patent
& Trademark Office.
As soon as possible after selecting a proposed
word mark, request from Patent Counsel an
infringement search. This will include careful
investigation to identify any previous use of a
proposed trademark or any uses sufficiently similar
to cause infringement or confusion. Failure
to initiate an adequate search can result in
expensive litigation and embarrassment to the
Company. Also, it can waste the money invested
in an abortive attempt to establish the word mark.
Selecting Secondary Word Marks
Select distinctive names.
GE Identity Program 122, Secondary Trademarks & Service Marks GE Identity Website: www.ge.com/identity
122.04
Secondary word marks can be classified according
to their content as
• arbitrary names
• suggestive names
• descriptive names
Of these, the most distinctive are those that were
originally arbitrary and meaningless. The classic
example of a highly distinctive mark is Kodak,
but GE also has done well with such marks as
Lexan polycarbonate and Lucalox lamps. These
are coined fanciful terms that had no meaning
whatsoever until they were invented and used
with generic names for the products.
From a legal viewpoint, distinctiveness is important.
The more original and unique a name,
the less the chance of infringing on the rights of
others and the better the chance of establishing
the name as a proprietary word mark.
Nevertheless, when using a highly distinctive
word mark, make certain that a suitable generic
name exists to ensure that the mark itself does
not become the generic name for the product.
Highly distinctive word marks, such as “Aspirin”
and “Escalator,” have been lost when the marks
became the accepted generic names for the
products.
From a marketing viewpoint as well, highly distinctive
names offer great advantage over time.
On the other hand, such a choice requires heavy
investment for a long period to build recognition—an
investment that normally would be
reserved for significant new developments.
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