A basic rule of trademark law is that trademark protection cannot be obtained for a term that is “generic,” meaning that it simply designates the type of goods at issue. For example, the term “apple” is generic when used to sell apples, so an apple producer could not obtain a trademark for APPLE. By contrast, a computer manufacturer can obtain trademark rights in the term APPLE—because the term does not describe the manufacturer’s products.
What about if the term is generic in a foreign language? For example, could a Japanese apple producer seek to trademark the term RINGO in the US? Under the “doctrine of foreign equivalents,” that would also be impermissible. The doctrine directs courts to translate foreign words into English when assessing whether they are generic—and also whether they are similar in meaning or connotation to an English-language mark when assessing likelihood of confusion. Thus, in one case involving a Japanese company, federal courts in New York rejected a Japanese sake producer’s claim of US trademark rights in the term OTOKOYAMA, concluding that the term in Japanese designates a type of sake produced by multiple breweries. See Otokoyama Co. v. Wine of Japan Import, Inc., 7 F. App’x 112 (2d Cir. 2001).
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