.png)
.png)
A trademark is meant to set your brand apart. It tells customers, “this product comes from me, not from anyone else.” But if your trademark is too generic, it won’t stand out—and IPOPHL (the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines) won’t allow it to be registered.
Think of it this way: if a coffee shop tried to trademark the word “Coffee” or an ice cream store wanted to register “Ice Cream,” IPOPHL would say no. Those words are just the common names of the products—they don’t tell us who made them.
A generic term is just the everyday word people already use to describe a product or service. For example, “apple” as a fruit is generic. But when used for computers, “Apple” became distinctive because it was unusual in that context and gained strong brand recognition over time.
Sometimes, a strong brand becomes so popular that people start using its name to describe all similar products. This is called genericide, or the “death” of a trademark.
Take “Aspirin.” It was once a registered trademark owned by Bayer, but over the years, people everywhere started using it as the general name for the drug acetylsalicylic acid. The same thing happened with “Escalator” (originally owned by Otis Elevator) and “Thermos.”
In the Philippines, IPOPHL warns brand owners to be careful. If the public starts using your brand name as a generic term, you could lose your rights over it.
Our own courts have made it clear: generic or descriptive words don’t qualify for protection unless they gain distinctiveness.
The takeaway? You can’t monopolize a common word unless you’ve turned it into something uniquely yours.
Modern brands also face this problem. Think about how people say “Google it” instead of “search online,” or how “Jeep” became a catch-all term for utility vehicles in the Philippines. These marks are still legally protected, but their owners constantly fight to stop them from becoming fully generic.
That’s why IPOPHL encourages businesses to use trademarks properly in ads and packaging—say “Brand X tissue” instead of just “tissue”—to remind consumers that it’s a brand, not just a product.
Before, IPOPHL examiners needed “clear evidence” to reject a trademark as generic. Now, the standard is looser—they only need a “reasonable basis” to decide a term is too generic to register.
This means applicants have to be even more careful when choosing a brand name.
If you’re planning to register a trademark in the Philippines, avoid generic words. IPOPHL will almost always reject them. Instead, choose something distinctive—something that really sets your brand apart.
And if you’re not sure whether your mark qualifies, it’s best to consult an IP professional like Brealant, who can review your proposed mark and guide you through the registration process. That way, you don’t waste time (or money) on a name that IPOPHL won’t accept.