Types of Trademarks Explained

Trademarks come in many forms beyond just brand names and logos. From sounds and colors to shapes and motion, modern trademark law recognizes diverse ways businesses identify their goods and services. Understanding which type to file can determine the scope of your protection and your costs.

Overview of Trademark Types

Trademarks can be categorized by their form (what they protect) and their function (who uses them and why). Most businesses will file traditional marks—word marks or logos—but knowing all available options helps you protect your brand comprehensively.

Forms of Trademarks

Categories of Trademarks

Beyond the form, trademarks fall into three functional categories:

For most businesses: You'll file an individual mark (either word mark, figurative mark, or both). Non-traditional marks like sounds and colors are typically only viable for large established brands with substantial marketing budgets.

Word Marks (Standard Character Marks)

A word mark protects the text itself—the actual words, letters, numbers, or standard characters—regardless of how they appear visually. When you register a word mark, you gain rights to use those words in any font, size, style, or color.

Key characteristics:

• Text-only protection
• No specific font or stylization required
• Displayed in any visual presentation
• Broadest text protection available

Examples:

• ADIDAS
• GOOGLE
• PHILIPS
• LEVI'S

When to use word marks:

Word marks are ideal when the wording itself is your brand's most valuable element. If you plan to use your brand name across different contexts with varying visual styles, a word mark provides maximum flexibility. A restaurant might use its name in different fonts on menus, signage, and packaging—a word mark protects all these uses.

Figurative Marks (Logos and Stylized Text)

Figurative marks—called "special form" marks in the US—protect specific visual presentations. This includes logos, stylized text with custom fonts, designs with graphic elements, or combinations of text and imagery.

Key characteristics:

• Specific visual design protected
• Includes stylization, colors, fonts, graphic elements
• Protection limited to the specific design filed
• Changes to design may require new filing

Examples:

• Nike swoosh logo
• Apple's apple with bite
• Adidas three stripes
• Starbucks siren design

When to use figurative marks:

File a figurative mark when your logo's visual design is distinctive and central to your brand identity. If customers recognize your brand by its specific look—the colors, shape, or artistic style—you need a figurative mark. A tech company with a unique geometric logo should protect that specific design.

Combined Marks (Word + Design)

Combined marks merge text and visual elements into a single trademark. These protect the specific combination of words and design as they appear together.

Advantages:

• Protects both text and design as a unit
• Reflects how customers actually see your brand
• Single application can be more cost-effective

Disadvantages:

• Protection limited to that specific combination
• Less flexibility to change visual presentation
• May be easier for competitors to design around

Strategic considerations:

Many businesses file both separately—a word mark for the text and a figurative mark for the logo—providing broader protection. This costs more (two applications) but prevents competitors from using your brand name in any form or your logo without text.

Sound Marks

Sound marks protect audio branding—distinctive sounds that identify a business's goods or services. These are rare but powerful for companies with audio signatures.

Requirements for registration:

• Must be distinctive and unique
• Cannot be functional (alarm sounds, car horns)
• Must identify source, not just convey information
• Requires audio file submission and detailed description

Famous examples:

• NBC's three-note chimes (G-E-C)
• Intel's five-note audio logo
• MGM lion's roar
• 20th Century Fox fanfare
• T-Mobile jingle

When sound marks make sense:

Sound marks work for businesses with consistent audio branding in advertising, retail environments, or product interfaces. A telecommunications company using the same jingle in all commercials, a retail chain with signature in-store music, or a software company with distinctive startup sounds could benefit.

Practical limitations:

Sound marks are difficult to protect and expensive to enforce. They require consumers to recognize the sound as identifying your brand, which typically demands years of consistent use and substantial advertising spend.

Color Marks

Color marks protect specific colors or color combinations as source identifiers. These are exceptionally difficult to register and require proof that consumers recognize the color itself as identifying your brand.

Requirements:

• Color must have acquired distinctiveness through extensive use
• Cannot be functional (camouflage green for military goods)
• Must identify source, not just decorate
• Requires precise color specifications (Pantone numbers)

Successful examples:

• Tiffany Blue (Pantone 1837) for jewelry packaging
• UPS Brown for delivery services
• Christian Louboutin red soles for shoes
• Cadbury purple for chocolate products

Why colors are hard to protect:

Trademark law generally considers colors functional or decorative rather than source-identifying. To overcome this presumption, you must prove "secondary meaning"—that consumers see the color and immediately think of your brand. This typically requires decades of exclusive use and massive marketing investments.

Shape Marks (3D Trade Marks)

Shape marks protect three-dimensional product designs or packaging when the shape itself identifies the source. These face strict functionality limitations.

Key requirement—Non-functional:

The shape cannot be functional. If a design serves a utilitarian purpose, improves performance, or is essential to use, it cannot be trademarked. Shapes must be arbitrary or ornamental.

Famous examples:

• Coca-Cola contour bottle
• Toblerone triangular chocolate bar
• Absolut vodka bottle
• Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle

Functionality exclusion:

A laptop's slim design might make it easier to carry (functional = no trademark). But a uniquely shaped perfume bottle that doesn't improve the perfume itself (non-functional = potentially trademarkable). The question is always: does the shape do something useful, or just identify the brand?

When shapes work:

Product shapes work best for packaging where the design is distinctive but not functional. A uniquely shaped bottle for a beverage, distinctive packaging for cosmetics, or an arbitrary container design could qualify if consumers recognize the shape as your brand.

Motion Marks

Motion marks protect moving images or animations that identify a brand. These are similar to sound marks in rarity and difficulty.

Requirements:

• Distinctive motion sequence
• Identifies source of goods or services
• Video file submission required
• Detailed written description

Examples:

• Columbia Pictures lady with torch
• Lamborghini scissor door opening sequence
• Windows startup animation sequence

Practical use:

Motion marks suit digital products, film studios, or businesses with consistent animated branding. A video streaming service with a unique loading animation, a game console with signature startup sequence, or a production company with recognizable intro sequence could use motion marks.

Limitations:

Like sound marks, motion marks require consistent use over time and significant advertising to establish consumer recognition. They're best suited for large companies with substantial marketing budgets.

Non-Visual Marks (Scent and Texture)

Trademarks can theoretically protect scents and textures, though these are exceptionally rare and difficult to register. Most trademark offices reject these applications.

Scent marks:

• Must be distinctive and non-functional
• Cannot be the natural scent of the product
• Requires detailed written description (no samples accepted)
• Almost never approved

Texture marks:

• Three-dimensional surface texture
• Must be non-functional and distinctive
• Extremely rare approvals

Reality:

While trademark law technically allows scent and texture marks, practical registration is nearly impossible. If you're considering these, consult experienced trademark counsel first. For most businesses, these aren't viable options.

Categories of Marks: Individual, Collective, and Certification

Beyond the form your mark takes (word, logo, sound), trademarks fall into three functional categories based on who uses them and for what purpose.

Individual Marks

Individual marks are standard trademarks—they identify goods or services from a particular business and distinguish them from competitors.

Who can file: Any individual or business entity

Purpose: Distinguish your goods/services from others

Cost:

• USPTO: $250-350 per class
• EUIPO: €850 base fee (+ €50 second class, + €150 third+ classes)

Use case: This is what most businesses need. Your company name, product brands, service names, and logos are individual marks.

Collective Marks

Collective marks identify goods or services from members of an association, distinguishing them from non-members. The association owns the mark, but members use it.

Who can file: Associations, cooperatives, or groups of manufacturers/service providers

Purpose: Indicate membership in a group with shared characteristics

Requirements:

• Filed by an association (not individuals)
• Used by multiple members
• Regulations governing use must be submitted
• Quality standards or membership criteria required

Cost:

• USPTO: $250-350 per class
• EUIPO: €1,500 (higher than individual marks)

Examples:

• Dairy cooperative marks identifying member farms
• Trade association marks for certified professionals
• Regional wine appellations (Champagne, Bordeaux)
• Craft guild marks

When to use collective marks:

A group of organic farmers forming a cooperative might use a collective mark to identify all their products. A professional association might create a collective mark that certified members can display. The key is that multiple entities use the same mark to show membership or shared standards.

Certification Marks

Certification marks guarantee that goods or services meet specific standards established by the mark owner, who does not sell those goods or services themselves.

Who can file: Any person or entity that does NOT provide the certified goods/services

Purpose: Certify that products/services meet certain quality standards, regional origin, materials, or characteristics

Critical restriction: You cannot certify your own goods or services. If you sell organic cotton, you cannot own the certification mark for "organic cotton." An independent certifying body must own it.

Requirements:

• Owner must NOT supply the certified goods/services
• Must establish clear certification standards
• Must monitor and enforce standards
• Cannot refuse certification to qualified applicants

Cost:

• USPTO: $250-350 per class
• EUIPO: €1,500 (higher than individual marks)

Examples:

• UL (Underwriters Laboratories) safety certification
• USDA Organic certification
• Fair Trade certification
• Energy Star for energy efficiency
• Woolmark for wool quality

When to use certification marks:

If you run a testing laboratory that certifies products meet safety standards, you could own a certification mark. If you operate a sustainability auditing service certifying eco-friendly products, a certification mark would apply. The essential requirement is that you do NOT sell the products you're certifying.

Mark Type Strategy: Choosing What to File

Deciding which mark types to file involves balancing protection scope, budget, and business priorities.

The Word Mark Priority

For most businesses, a word mark should be your first priority. Word marks provide the broadest protection for the lowest cost, covering your brand name regardless of visual presentation.

Start here if:

• You're on a limited budget
• Your business name is your primary brand asset
• You expect your visual branding to evolve
• You use your brand across multiple contexts

When to Add Figurative Marks

File figurative marks when you have a distinctive logo that's central to your brand identity and unlikely to change.

Add figurative protection when:

• You have a unique, recognizable logo design
• Your visual identity is consistent and established
• Customers identify your brand by the design itself
• You have budget for multiple applications

Filing Multiple Variations

Many established brands file several trademark applications for variations of their marks:

Example: Nike's trademark portfolio

1. Word mark: NIKE
2. Figurative mark: Swoosh design alone
3. Figurative mark: "Nike" in stylized font
4. Combined mark: Swoosh + "Nike" together

This comprehensive approach costs more but provides maximum protection against various infringement scenarios.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Non-Traditional Marks Decision Framework

Sound marks: Only if you have consistent audio branding across all advertising for 5+ years and substantial advertising budget.

Color marks: Only if you're an established brand with decades of exclusive color use and can prove consumer recognition.

Shape marks: Only if you have a truly distinctive, non-functional product shape or packaging that consumers recognize.

Motion marks: Only if you have consistent animated branding with significant consumer exposure.

Reality for most businesses: Stick with word and figurative marks. Non-traditional marks are expensive, difficult to register, and even harder to enforce.

Industry-Specific Considerations

Decision Checklist

Before filing, ask:

1. What do customers recognize? File what they actually identify as your brand.
2. What's your budget? Prioritize word marks if limited; add logos when affordable.
3. Will your branding change? File word marks for flexibility; figurative marks lock in specific designs.
4. How many variations do you use? File the versions you actually use in commerce.
5. Is it distinctive enough? Non-traditional marks require exceptional distinctiveness.

What's Next

You've chosen a strong, distinctive mark and decided on the type—word mark, logo, or both. Now you need to understand how trademarks are classified by industry and the goods or services they cover. Chapter 4 explains the Nice Classification system and how to identify the right classes for your trademark application.