One of the initial questions many clients have when it comes to protecting their most valuable intellectual property assets goes something like this: “Can I get a trademark for this?”. Like a stereotypical trademark lawyer (okay, like a stereotypical “fill-in-the-blank” lawyer), I usually answer questions like that with another question. Actually, I usually respond with more than one question, but one of the first questions I ask is, “What goods or services do you intend to use the proposed trademark with?”. One of the most important reasons for asking that question at the outset is that the difference between (i) a trademark that is “merely descriptive” of the goods or services with which it will be used and (ii) a trademark that is “distinctive” is frequently the difference between a refused trademark application and a registered trademark.