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How does descriptiveness of my brand influence my chances for a successful trademark registration?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

A descriptive mark faces a significantly higher bar for registration than an arbitrary or invented one. The IP office will refuse a mark that merely describes a characteristic of the goods or services; their quality, purpose, geographic origin, or intended users; because such terms need to remain available for any business to use freely.

The closer a mark is to describing the product directly, the weaker its registrability. A purely descriptive mark can only be registered if the applicant can demonstrate acquired distinctiveness: that through long and exclusive commercial use, consumers have come to associate the term specifically with that brand rather than with the product category generally.

Marks that are suggestive (implying a quality without stating it) or arbitrary (a word with no connection to the product) face far fewer obstacles and are far more likely to proceed through examination without a distinctiveness objection.

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