descriptive name
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 265 U.S. 526 - William Warner Co v. Eli Lilly & Co · 1924Most cited · 667 citing opinions
A name which is merely descriptive of the ingredients, qualities or characteristics of an article of trade cannot be appropriated as a trade-mark and the exclusive use of it afforded legal protection. The use of a similar name by another to truthfully describe his own product does not constitute a legal or moral wrong, even if its effect be to cause the public to mistake the origin or ownership of the product.
How often courts cite the case defining “descriptive name”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “descriptive name” — 665 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.