I agree it would be nice to be more cut and dried. In practice, I think it would come down to a court deciding if their was the possibility of misleading the c

I agree it would be nice to be more cut and dried. In practice, I think it would come down to a court deciding if their was the possibility of misleading the consumer, by mimicking a well-known brand in a particular market. So I think businesses can get trademarks for English words and common names - with the understanding that they might be geographically or market-segment limited in their protection.