Tradmark Riffing at Seth's

This is a great riff, Seth. Lots to think about. Read the whole thing. Then... read it again.

In order to make it a trademark, most lawyers agree you need to follow a few superstitions (superstitions because there's no official manual with definitive answers). The first is that you ought to make it clear to the world that you know it's a trademark, that it indicates your product comes from a specific source. So, putting (tm) after your mark helps... and once per page/interaction is generally considered to be enough. So you don't have to repeat the (tm) over and over and over again in your copy or brochure. It's tacky.

Adding (c) after your name is just dumb. It doesn't mean a thing.

You can trademark just about any word or phrase, but that doesn't mean it will hold up. The best trademarks are 'fanciful', words like Yahoo! or Verizon. Next down the list are words that a bit descriptive, like Woopie Cushion, Wikipedia or JetBlue. The worst kind of words are descriptive. Yes, you can trademark the brand American Motors, but don't expect it to be particularly valuable or long lasting.