How can a name that is registered with the government trademark office still be called generic?
A simple example would be an apple farmer trying to register the phrase THE BEST APPLES. Obviously other apple farmers have a legitimate need to be able to say that they grow the best apples too. It would be unfair on other apple farmers to give one apple farmer exclusive rights to this phrase. But, for the apple farmer to register THE BEST APPLES with a unique symbol would mean that other farmers may describe their apples as THE BEST APPLES, providing they do not use the same unique symbol that the apple farmer has registered with the trademark office. O’Sullivan made the mistake of registering a generic name in conjunction with a generic symbol that was unknown to the trademark office. A trade mark is not registrable if it is not capable of distinguishing goods or services from the same or similar goods or services of other traders in the marketplace.
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