What makes a good trademark?

What you can’t register as a trademark

Each country sets rules about what can and can’t be used as a trademark. In general, trademarks can only be registered for marks that can be used to uniquely distinguish your goods and services from those of others.

​A few of the main reasons why you can’t register trademarks are:

• Merely descriptive of the associated goods or services e.g. “Nelson Auto Services” for a mechanic in Nelson
• Deceptive or intending to mislead, e.g. “Nelson Auto Services” – for a florist
• Offensive – such as racist, sexist or other offensive language and imagery e.g. “F#$K Auto Services”
• Laudatory marks e.g. “Good Auto Services”.
• Conflicting with an earlier trademark, e.g. you cannot register a trademark for “Apple” for computers as “Apple” have already registered that trademark.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has more detail on requirements here.

What makes a good trademark?

A good trademark is something that can uniquely distinguish you, your company or it’s goods and services from those of others. To do so a good trademark should be:

​Distinctive – this means it should be different to other trademarks for similar goods, services and industries.

Non-descriptive – don’t try and describe your goods and services with your trademark. You can always accompany the trademark with a separate slogan or descriptive text to tell your customers what you do e.g. register “Mint” as your trademark for auto services not “Mint Auto Services”.

Suggestive – while not necessary, a good trademark may be suggestive or allude to the quality or other characteristic of the goods or services e.g. “SleepyHead” for beds and bedding.