What can be a trademark or service mark?
Marks can be almost anything such as letters, words, slogans, colors, musical sounds, and smells. Marks are classified as fanciful, arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive or generic. The classification of a mark is based on the goods or services with which it will be associated. Therefore, a specific mark could be generic in one use and arbitrary in another. Fanciful, arbitrary and suggestive marks can function as trademarks. Descriptive marks must establish “secondary meaning” to functions as a trademark. Generic marks cannot function as trademarks.
