​Trademark Fair Use: Descriptive vs. Nominative Descriptive Fair Use: Classic Fair Use Descriptive Fair Use. Arises when one uses another’s trademark in its ordinary and descriptive context to describe a product or service. The rationale for this use is that the trademark owner should not be permitted to monopolize everyday terms that competitors and others need to describe a product or service. Therefore, owners of strong marks which are found to be less descriptive and more