However, securing a registered trademark offers additional benefits such as notice to the public of the registrant's claim of ownership of the mark, a legal presumption of ownership and certain remedies in the event of litigation. Although it can take a while for a certificate to issue, filing a registration is the key to starting the clock on your claims. Whether a word or name can be trademarked depends on the type of category in which the word falls. These categories connote levels of distinctiveness, and in the realm of trademarks, the more distinctive, the more likely that word or name can be trademarked. The arbitrary and suggestive categories of marks are those marks that bear no relationship to their associated goods, and are therefore considered to be inherently distinctive.
Suggestive marks are likewise inherently distinctive and registrable as trademarks.
In contrast, descriptive marks, which identify a characteristic, quality or some other aspect of the goods or service, are not inherently distinctive. A songwriter's personal name or a band's name may be registered as a trademark identifying and distinguishing the entertainment services performed by the individual or group. Since names are considered descriptive marks, the applicant must generally show that the name has attained a certain level of distinctiveness through its use. For example, distinctiveness through use can be shown through use of a name on a series of published recordings. Basically, the public must have come to know the name as identifying and distinguishing the goods or services of only one source.