Summary
Explaining whether a generic term can be a trademark
No. A “generic name” is typically the name of the product or service itself, as opposed to a brand name for the company that provides the product or service. If a term is “generic,” it cannot identify and distinguish the products of only one seller, which is what a trademark does.
But context matters. A term like “apple” may be generic for apples, but it might be a distinctive trademark for something else, like computers.
Furthermore, terms that are “descriptive” – meaning that they describe features of the product or service – can become distinctive over time and gain a “secondary meaning” as a brand. This was a core issue in a U.S. Supreme Court case from 2020, where the Court considered whether “Booking.com” was generic or could function as a trademark.