Descriptive marks literally describe the product or service for which they are used: like “The Red Pencil Company or “Hot Coffee Stand.” A consumer doesn’t really need to think or know what the product is.

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Unlike marks on the more distinctive end of the trademark continuum, such as fanciful (made up, like Exxon) or arbitrary (like Apple for computers) or suggestive (like Coppertone or Netflix), descriptive terms are generally not protectible as trademarks. And totally generic terms like “Coffee” or “Computers” can never be trademarks.

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Context matters - If I use an apple as a logo for my fruit juice - it’s descriptive (and very weak); For computers and gadgets it’s arbitrary (and very strong).

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The “Orange Juice Company”’ would be descriptive when connected to an OJ brand (and not protectable). But the “Orange Juice” dance company would be arbitrary and probably protectable as consumers are not going to be confused between it and other dance companies.

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Surnames and geographic locations are treated as descriptive - if you try to register “Smith Lawn Mower Repair,” or New York Pizza, you’re likely to get a “descriptiveness refusal” from the Trademark Office.

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It is sometimes possible for descriptive marks to “acquire distinctiveness,” by becoming associated with a specific source of goods. This can happen where a company uses a descriptive mark for its goods or services over a long period of time, and they are the only ones using the term that way (for example, “Juicy Juice” brand juice) or where the product is so well-known that consumers come to identify it with a particular company in a shorter period of time (such as the video game “Rock Band”). 

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We hope your product or service becomes very well-known, too, but if you want a strong trademark, it’s best to avoid descriptive terms.