According to the Japanese Trademark Law Article 3(1), the following marks are unregistrable due to lacking of distinctiveness.
- Trademark solely consisting of a mark indicating the common name of the goods or services in an ordinary manner (a trademark “watch” for goods “watch”)
- Trademark traditionally used with respect to particular goods or services (a trademark “Masamune” for goods “Japanese alcohol”, (Masamune is frequently used for general Japanese Sake))
- Trademark solely consisting of a mark merely indicating, in a common way, a quality of goods or services (a trademark “Ginza”, which is a well-know shopping town in Tokyo)
- Trademark solely consisting of a mark indicating, in a common way, a common surname or business name (a trademark “Suzuki Store”)
- Trademark solely consisting of a very simple component (a trademark “XP”, which consists of two alphabets
- Trademark from which consumers cannot recognize goods or services with respect to a business of a particular person (a trademark “Heisei”, which is a current era name in Japan)
