Such notices create no legal rights, however. A patent is a property right that may be held for one's own use, sold outright to another, or licensed to others. After a patent is issued, the federal government does not police the market for infringement. If others infringe the patent, it is up to the patent owner to assert his or her rights. A trademark is a word, a name, a symbol, a device, or a combination of these, used to identify goods and distinguish them from others.
Service marks are like trademarks, except that they identify services.
There is a hierarchy of protectability of trademarks and service marks. The strongest are coined or arbitrary marks which in no way suggest or describe the product. Next, and also protectable, are marks that merely suggest the product or service or suggest some characteristic or quality of the product or service. At the bottom of the list, and generally not protectable, are descriptive marks. Generic terms can never become valid trademarks.