The USPTO’s list of stands characters contains every letter from the Latin Alphabet (also called the Roman alphabet) as well as Arabic numerals.  These letters and numbers are used in most of the world’s languages, from every country in the Americas and Europe to most countries in Africa and even some in Asia. But what if the word you want to trademark contains characters from a foreign language that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet?  For example, what if you want to trademark a word in written Chinese or Arabic?

The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish goods/services and their source from other goods/services in the marketplace. To further that purpose, federal courts have created a sliding scale under which the degree of protection a mark receives depends on its level of distinctiveness. The five categories, in order from least distinctive to most distinctive, are: (1) generic marks, (2) descriptive marks, (3) suggestive marks, (4) arbitrary marks, and (5) fanciful marks. Below is a brief description of each category and the level of protection a trademark that falls in that category receives under federal law.

Your business name and brand are some of its most important and valuable assets. Here are the basics of what you need to know to protect your business trademarks.