Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Trademarking an acronym in generic use

If the name is truly generic, it cannot be registered as TM. However, If the name is descriptive, the name can be reigistered on the supplemental register rather than on the principal register. 5 years after being registered on the principal register, it will have acquired secondary meaning. Thus, it will be eligible for registration on the principal register.

Re: Trademarking an acronym in generic use

Normally an acronym is registrable if it is arbitrary. A series of letters usually will be distinctive.

Even descriptive marks can be registered if they require imagination or insight to determine exactly what they are describing or they have obtained secondary meaning (have become associaited in the public mind with a particular source).

However PDA has become highly descriptive-verging on generic, for Personal

Digital Assistant, so I don't think it can ever become a trademark. You could have an AR PDA as a trademark, but that would be the "AR" and PDA would have to be disclaimed except as part of the mark.Soooooo to really answer your question, I would have to know the exact mark you were contemplating and the context.