Can I get a generic name trademarked?
<p><a href="http://www.mbbp.com/news/generic-trademark" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This article</a> (and my knowledge about trademarks) says Generic Names can't be trademarked. So my question is about the genericity of a name and the probability of getting it trademarked.</p>

<p>I own a generic domain name with <code>.com</code> since 2010 but lately found that another person is using the <code>.co.uk</code> tld of the same domain since 2016 for a website and doing business. I am planning to develop on my domain.</p>

<p>The domain name looks something like <code>freecupcakes.com</code> (just symbolic but not about cupcakes) and another party use the domain <code>freecupcakes.co.uk</code>.</p>

<p>my observations about the other person's business are.</p>

<ol>
<li>They are using it since 2016</li>
<li>They don't have trademark registerd but a company with the same name in UK</li>
</ol>

<p>So my questions are,.</p>

<ol>
<li>Can I use proceed building the business with my domain which I own from 2010?</li>
<li>Can I register a company with the same name in another location not in UK/Europe?</li>
<li>Can this type of name be ever trademarked?</li>
<li>Can the other person using the same business name ever trademark this name?</li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li><p>Yes. You can build your business with that.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Yes. Also, a trademark is not a trade name and vice versa. This is a common mistake. A trademark is a brand affixed to some kind of product. A trade name is the name of a business. They are not the same things. The fact that you have a business with a particular trade name does not mean that you necessarily have a trademark in that name. You do not necessarily need to have a trademark in your trade name and often you can't because it is not a branding of your product.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Probably not. Certainly, you cannot get a principle register trademark for this. You could file a state trademark registration if you sell it in a U.S. second or perhaps a supplemental trademark registration, which don't necessarily give you legal rights, but do conclusively establish that you were using the mark in a particular place from a particular time which would discourage anyone else from trying to get a trademark of their own and oust you from using yours. Sometimes trademark examiners are lazy and let generic marks get registered even though they shouldn't.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Hard to say. They shouldn't be able to get a trademark in the U.S. on that basis, but the quality of trademark examination varies from country to country, and from examiner to examiner. Every once in a while I see an approved registration for a mark that should totally be disqualified and I shrug my shoulders and ask myself why I always clear a clear &quot;no&quot; from the PTO when I try to submit a mark like that and somehow the bozo who submitted that mark got it approved when it should be clearly ineligible for registration - for example, &quot;Palisade Red&quot; for red wine made in Palisade, Colorado. A lesser level of trademark registration such as a state trademark or a supplemental register mark discourages an otherwise lenient examiner from approving an already dubious mark and strengthen your case if you ever need to seek to have their mark cancelled.</p>
</li>
</ol>

trademark