Common problems in applications

You must specify the trademark owner’s legal name and entity type in the application. An entity type could be an individual, sole proprietor, corporation, partnership, LLC, or other entity type. While the owner doesn’t have to personally fill out the application, the owner must be correctly identified in the application when it is initially submitted.

For example, you and your colleague co-own a small jewelry store. You want to register a trademark for your store. In the application, you mistakenly state that you are the sole owner of that trademark. Your application will be rejected because you alone are not the owner. In the application, you and your colleague both should have been identified as joint owners.

You can’t fix this mistake by adding your colleague’s name as a joint owner or by assigning ownership of the trademark to you and your colleague jointly. Your only option is to start over with a new application that identifies both you and your colleague as the trademark owner.

You must specify in your application the goods or services you use, or intend to use, with your trademark. You want to identify the actual goods or services you’re providing under your trademark, not how you’re using your trademark.

For example, you have a winery and you want to register your trademark for your wine. Because your trademark appears on your wine labels, you mistakenly identify your goods in your application as “labels,” when the goods are actually the wine. Your application will be refused because you’re selling the wine in commerce, not the labels.

You can't expand or broaden your goods and services. For example, if you initially listed “shirts” as your goods in the application, you could later limit these to specific types of shirts, such as “t-shirts and polo shirts.” However, you can’t later change “shirts” to “pants.”

Your trademark is likely to cause confusion with an already registered or applied for trademark. This means that your trademark and the conflicting trademark are both confusingly similar in appearance, sound, or meaning, and used with related goods or services.

Trademarks don’t have to be identical to be confusingly similar. They can be visually similar or have a similar meaning. They also don’t have to be used with identical goods or services. The goods or services just have to be related.

Search our trademark database for pending or registered trademarks to see if there is a similar one that could block your application. Learn more about likelihood of confusion.

If your entire trademark is generic, that means it’s the common, everyday name for your goods or services. For example, Mobile App Store, Computer, or 100% Cotton Tee cannot be registered as trademarks for mobile app stores, computers, or 100% cotton t-shirts because every business and entrepreneur has the right to use these everyday terms to refer to these everyday items.

Your trademark is likely to be refused registration if it’s a phrase or slogan used in everyday speech to express an ordinary concept or sentiment. That’s because trademarks indicate the source of goods or services. A commonly used phrase doesn’t indicate source—it only shows that you agree with the widely used message or sentiment. 

For example, the following phrases don’t indicate to a consumer the source of goods or services, so they aren’t trademarks.  

• Proudly made in the USA
• Think green
• Drive safely
• Once a Marine, always a Marine
• Team Jesus
• Texas Love
• I ♥ DC 

If you notice that someone applied to register a commonly used phrase as a trademark, you can file a Letter of Protest, with fee. Don’t include your personal opinion in the letter or information about a potentially fraudulent specimen. Instead, include only actual evidence that the phrase is widely used in the marketplace. For more information, see the Letter of protest practice tip webpage. 

If your trademark merely describes some aspect of your goods or services, we will refuse to register it. For example:

• “Cold” for ice cream
• “Creamy” for yogurt
• “Apple pie” for potpourri

These trademarks are merely descriptive because ice cream is cold, yogurt is creamy, and apple pie describes the scent of the potpourri. These types of trademarks cannot be registered on our Principal Register without evidence of acquired distinctiveness. Alternatively, they may be registered on the Supplemental Register.

If your trademark includes the name, portrait, or signature of a living individual and you do not have their written consent to use and register it, registration of your trademark will be refused. You must provide written consent by that individual in your application. For example, if you include an image of former President Barack Obama in your trademark, you must provide written consent of former President Obama in your application. Or, if your trademark consists of the signature of the founder of your business, you must provide the founder’s written consent in your application.

You cannot register a surname alone (or a surname combined with generic or informational wording) without additional evidence. Multiple people have the same surname, so unless the public comes to associate your surname with your particular goods or services, you cannot have exclusive trademark rights in it. For example, if your surname is Higgins and you own a business called Higgins, in which you sell refurbished laptops, and you want to register the surname Higgins for these online retail store services, you can do so only if Higgins has become recognized by consumers as identifying your services, rather than just your surname.

Examples of surnames that are registered trademarks are Ford® for automobiles, owned by the Ford Motor Company, and McDonald’s® for restaurant services, owned by McDonald’s Corporation.

Trademarks consisting of surnames alone cannot be registered on our Principal Register without evidence of acquired distinctiveness. Alternatively, they may be registered on the Supplemental Register.

Your specimen must show how you actually use your trademark in commerce on or in connection with the goods, or in the sale or advertising of the services. If your specimen is unacceptable, we’ll refuse registration. Common reasons include:

• The specimen does not show use of the applied-for trademark with any of the relevant goods or services.
• The specimen is a printer’s proof of an advertisement for services.
• The specimen is a digitally created or altered image of the goods.
• The specimen is merely advertising material for goods.
• The specimen is merely a picture or drawing of the trademark.
• The specimen is a photocopy of the drawing.
• The specimen is a webpage that does not include the URL or date accessed.

For example, you own a t-shirt business, but don’t realize the specimen you submit must show use of your trademark on a label, hangtag, or other appropriate material. Instead, you find a stock image of a t-shirt hangtag online, superimpose your trademark onto the picture, and submit that as your specimen. Your application will be rejected because the submitted specimen is a mockup or digitally created image. To proceed, you will need to submit a specimen that shows use of your trademark on an actual label or hangtag attached to the goods, packaging for the goods, or an electronic point of sale display for the goods.

We will also refuse registration if your specimen does not show the trademark functioning as a trademark. Common reasons include:

• The applied-for trademark is mere ornamentation.
• The applied-for trademark identifies the name or pseudonym of a performing artist or author.
• The applied-for trademark identifies the title of a single creative work.
• The applied-for trademark identifies a character from a creative work.

For example, The Magic School Bus® is a registered trademark for a series of children’s picture books. The trademark was shown on book covers for a series of different books and in advertisements, and evidence showed the trademark to be widely recognized as a source identifier for the book series, not just for a single book in the series.

You can delete goods and services from the application, and clarify or limit goods and services. However, you can’t expand or broaden goods and services. For example, if you initially filed for “jewelry,” you may limit the goods to specific types of jewelry, such as “jewelry, namely, earrings.” You may not change “jewelry” to “jewelry boxes” or to a service, such as “jewelry stores.”