A Trade-mark may be a word, or words; or a device; or a device combined with a word or words.
It is often considered desirable to register the name of a product as a trade-mark. Consequently, in the case of new products, the selection of a trade-mark often means the selection of a name for the merchandise with which the trade-mark is to be used.
A familiar and excellent example of a coined word used as a trade-mark.
A trade-mark, to be valid, should not have any meaning obviously descriptive of the goods for which it is registered. The word "Crex", to illustrate our meaning, is an arbitrary coined word. As such it is registrable, and besides its undoubted validity, it has some of the best qualities that a trade-mark can possess, in that it is short—of one syllable—easy to pronounce and remember, and its sound is not displeasing to the ear. Note that in the name "Crex Grass Furniture", the word "Crex" is alone registrable. "Grass Furniture" is a descriptive term.
Coined words, like Karo, Onoto, Chiclets, Crisco, Uneeda, Jap-a-lac, Sapolio, are virtually infringement proof. The ownership of a coined word, as applied to the commodity with which it is associated, rests absolutely in the individual or concern that first uses it.
Many of these coined words are only fortuitous combinations of letters, arrived at after divers experiments. Such a word is "Onoto", applied to a fountain pen. It was selected from a list of hundreds of similar names, in which all sorts of curious arrangements of letters were set down.
In the creation of an artificial or "coined" word, a mere misspelling of a word or phrase does not make it registrable, if it would not be so otherwise. "Bestok", a misspelling of "Best Stock", was refused registration, as it is plainly descriptive.
"Omo" is the trade-mark of a dress shield; "Persil"—a coined word—is a washing compound; and "Steero" is the trade-mark and the name of bouillon cubes.
"Sealpackerchief" is a name made up of "Sealed", "Package" and "Handkerchief". It is the trade-name of a brand of handkerchiefs that are sold in clean sealed packages.