Legal Definitions - U.S.C.A.

U.S.C.A. stands for United States Code Annotated. It is a collection of federal laws that have been organized by subject matter.

§ 1052(e)(1) is a section of the U.S.C.A. that deals with trademarks. It states that a trademark should not be analyzed in parts. Instead, the entire trademark must be tested to see if it is descriptive or has a secondary meaning. A trademark that only describes a product cannot distinguish one producer from another. For example, the word "apple" would be a descriptive name for the fruit and would not tell consumers anything about the different origins of apples produced by different companies. Allowing a company to trademark a descriptive term would give them a monopoly on something that is necessary to describe the product being sold.

One example of a descriptive trademark is "Lite Beer." This trademark describes the product as being low in calories, but it does not distinguish one beer producer from another. Another example is "The Computer Store." This trademark describes the store as selling computers, but it does not distinguish one computer store from another.

These examples illustrate the definition because they show how a descriptive trademark cannot distinguish one producer from another. They also show how allowing a company to trademark a descriptive term would give them a monopoly on something that is necessary to describe the product being sold.