What Is Secondary Meaning?

Things can become protectable trademarks in two ways: 1) by being inherently distinctive, or 2) by becoming distinctive. “Secondary meaning” is another term used to indicate “acquired distinctiveness” and means that the mark has come to indicate to consumers that goods and services bearing the mark come from or are sponsored or endorsed by one source. Thus, a phrase that has a “primary,” natural meaning, e.g., “bird’s eye,” comes to have a “secondary” meaning—a brand of frozen food.