> If you start protecting words in the English language
Trademark law doesn't do this. Trademark law protects the use of certain words or phrases in the context of the goods or products they mark. The Feds won't come knocking on your door for naming your dog Kleenex.
Legally perhaps, but if I say Skype the product Skype comes to mind, that's fine, because their company name became a verb. In the other direction however if I take a word such as "Apple" and name my company that then I gain an advantage that any time anyone who speaks English eats an Apple my company name has the chance to come to mind. This restricts the English language by binding generic words through memory to companies thus diluting their usefulness.
Trademark law doesn't do this. Trademark law protects the use of certain words or phrases in the context of the goods or products they mark. The Feds won't come knocking on your door for naming your dog Kleenex.