No one managed to get a trademark on the word

[moonlike]

Hi
Could you tell me the meaning of the underlined part?

The history of the American hamburger is a triumph of 20th century merchandising. No one managed to get a trademark on the word. Any minimum wage menial could cook hamburgers and any street vendor could peddle them.

Thanks

 

[charliedeut]

As I read it, if anyone had actually managed to get the trademark on the word "hamburger", only one company could be selling them. The rest would have to call them "flat meatballs" or what have you. charliedeut

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, Charliedeut is correct. Anyone who slaps ground beef between two slices of anything can call it a hamburger. Nobody owns or controls the word. The same is true of pizza, hot dog, omelet, and many others.

 

[SoothingDave]

A trademark would be nice, but you would need to patent it to prevent others from selling a similar thing.