Secondary meaning definition
Secondary meaning means that consumers in the relevant market—whether the market is defined by geography or types of goods or services or some other form of market segmentation—see a word, name, or symbol used in connection with goods or services and think first of the brand or source significance of the mark rather than the primary, or “dictionary” or other common meaning, of a word, name, or symbol. See Amazing Spaces, Inc. v. Metro Mini Storage, 608 F.3d 225, 237 (5th Cir. 2010). Some authorities prefer to refer to secondary meaning by the term “acquired distinctiveness” in order to more clearly differentiate this type of trademark distinctiveness from “inherent distinctiveness.” See, e.g., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v.
Secondary meaning means that a word or phrase originally incapable of exclusive appropriation with reference to an article in the market (because it is geographically or otherwise descriptive) might nevertheless have been used for so long and so exclusively by one producer with reference to his article that, in the trade and to that branch of the purchasing public, the word or phrase has come to mean that the article was his property. Herein, “Poster Ads” was generic and incapable of being used as a trademark because it was used in the field of poster advertising, the very business engaged in by P&D.
Secondary meaning means that purchasers singularly associate the mark with the party
Examples of Secondary meaning in a sentence
Licensee recognizes the great value of the goodwill associated with the NFL Marks and QB Marks and acknowledges that such goodwill belongs to the Member Clubs and the NFL, the QB Club or the QBC Members as the case may be and that such NFL Marks and QB Marks have Secondary meaning in the minds of the public.
More Definitions of Secondary meaning
Secondary meaning means that the mark has become so distinctive that in the mind of consumers, the descriptive mark has separated itself from others in the class. The 5th Circuit has determined the following test to determine if a mark has achieved secondary meaning: 1) the amount and manner of advertising, 2) the amount of sales, 3) the length and manner of the term’s use, and 4) the results of consumer surveys.3