Understanding The Spectrum You may have heard that “anything can be trademarked”, but this is far from the truth in US trademark law. There is a common term in the trademark world – The Spectrum Of Distinctiveness – which classifies marks into 5 basic categories: Generic, Descriptive, Suggestive, Arbitrary, Fanciful. This is essentially a spectrum where, on one end, you have zero chance for trademark registration and, on the other end, your chances are almost guaranteed. This also comes with implications as to the scope of protection your mark will get by law. Meaning on the low end, little-to-none; on the high end, as much protection as possible. One thing that