Can a name generated by artificial intelligence be validly protected as a trademark? With the growing adoption of generative AI tools, this question has become increasingly relevant.
The answer is YES, BUT… ⚠️ the nuance lies in the fact that trademark law focuses less on creative origin and more on the distinctive function of the mark.
🔍 Three key principles to remember:
1️⃣ Origin is not determinative for protection
Unlike copyright law, it doesn’t matter whether a trade name comes from an algorithm or human brainstorming. What matters legally is the conscious act of selecting and filing the name.
Thus, there’s no need to worry about the algorithmic origin of a designation—what counts are its intrinsic qualities.
2️⃣ Traditional criteria remain unchanged
An AI‑generated name must still meet the classic requirements of trademark law (notably Articles L711‑1 and L711‑2 of the French Intellectual Property Code):
- Distinctiveness: Generated neologisms (e.g., “Zenvia,” “Noxalight”) are often distinctive, but AI can also suggest descriptive terms (e.g., “Premium Solutions”) or laudatory terms (e.g., “ExcellentTech”) that will be refused.
- Availability: This is THE critical point! AI tools do not perform reliable prior‑use searches. An attractive name may already be owned by a third party.
- Lawfulness: Human oversight remains essential to avoid marks that are contrary to public order or deceptive.
3️⃣ AI: an ideation tool, not a validation tool
Generative AI excels at producing hundreds of creative suggestions in seconds. But it can never replace:
- Strategic analysis of sectoral relevance
- Assessment of distinctiveness within your specific field
📊 Practical impacts on trademark management:
- Adapt your processes: Clearly formalize the separation between generation (AI) and human validation
- Manage your providers: Beware of all‑in‑one tools that promise automated availability checks
- Document your decisions: Record the selection criteria used to choose the final name from among the AI’s proposals
While current AI models excel at linguistic creation, they remain limited in legal verification. The future may bring more sophisticated solutions that integrate trademark databases for more effective pre‑filtering.
Nonetheless, human legal expertise will remain irreplaceable for assessing confusion risks and strategic evaluation.
