Old-school cartoon stick figure wearing a top hat and pointing at a chalkboard with “Design Marks” written in large chalk letters — representing a blog post about design marks and traditional trademarks.

Traditional trademarks are conventional and well-recognized forms of trademarks, including word marks and design marks. Traditional trademarks are the most common and easily recognizable type of trademarks used by businesses to establish their brand identities (especially in comparison to non-traditional trademarks)..

Design marks consist of design elements like logos, symbols, stylized text, or other graphic elements. A design mark protects the specific appearance of the design, ensuring that others cannot use a similar visual identifier for similar goods or services. To register a design mark, it must be distinctive, not confusingly similar to existing marks used by others, and not merely decorative in use.

The first trademark ever registered in the United States was a design mark. The Averill Ready-Mix Paint Logo was filed on August 29, 1870, and registered on October 23, 1870 (no longer registered). Although it was the 15th trademark application submitted, the Averill Ready-Mix Paint Logo was the first of the fifteen to register.

Some of the oldest design mark traditional trademark registrations in the US are still alive and in use today! Samson Rope Technologies, Inc.’s Samson Logo [1], first registered in May 1884 in connection with cords, lines, and ropes, is the oldest design mark (and trademark registration of any kind!) still registered and in use.

Other long-registered design marks include the Budweiser Logo [2], first registered in March 1886 in connection with lager beer; the Bass Triangle Logo [3], first registered in July 1889 in connection with beer of all descriptions; the Elgin National Watch Co. Logo [4], first registered in July 1892 in connection with watches; the Coca-Cola Logo [5], first registered in January 1893 in connection with tonic beverages; the Hires Rootbeer. Logo [6], first registered in January 1894 in connection with root beer; and the Omega Logo [7], first registered in July 1894 in connection with watch movements and watch cases.

Want to search for old design marks yourself? Head over to https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/, select “Field tag and Search Builder” from the drop down box on the left, and enter the following search string: (MD:2 MD3) AND DC:(2902*) AND LR:true AND RG:*principal*

This will give you all active trademark registrations on the principal register! Over on the left click on “Sort” and select “Serial (0-9)” to see registrations sorted oldest to newest. Scroll through and have a look at some of the oldest, still active word mark and design marks. Have fun!

Want to learn more about trademarks? Check out our posts on Trademark Genericide, Introduction, and 5 Key Facts About Trademarks.