Old-school cartoon stick figure wearing a top hat and pointing at a chalkboard with “Word Marks” written in large chalk letters — representing a blog post about work 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).

Word marks are text-only trademarks consisting solely of words, letters, or numbers without any specific design element. Word mark trademark registrations protect the wording itself, granting exclusive rights to use the word mark in connection with specific goods or services, regardless of how the word mark is styled or displayed.

To register a word mark, the text must be distinctive and not confusingly similar to existing marks used by others. Generic text (words that are generic for the associated goods or services) cannot be registered. The strongest word marks are those that are arbitrary or fanciful, meaning they are either made-up words or common words used in an unrelated context.

Some of the oldest word mark traditional trademark registrations in the US are still alive and in use today! Washburn’s Gold Medal® [1], first registered in April 1886, is the oldest word mark still registered and in use. Other long-registered word marks also include Tiffany & Co.® [2], first registered in September 1893, and John Deere® [3], first registered in September 1897.

Want to learn more about trademarks? Check out our posts on “Intellectual” Property? Sounds Made Up., I Think I Understand IP, But Can You Give Me An Example?, and Why Should I Care About Trademarks?.

[1] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 13,253, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=70013253&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 23,573, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=70023573&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[3] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 30,580, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=70030580&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.