Ultimately, it’s unlikely that you care about the intellectual property struggles of large corporations, and you’ll probably keep saying “Kleenex” when you really just want a tissue. Cohen noted that it’s possible for a company to recapture a trademark if it can get consumers to associate the brand name with its specific product rather than the product category at large. “They became so famous, people may accidentally associate that name with the action - like Xerox.” Mr. “Some of the names that are made-up words are the ones susceptible to being genericized, because there is no other way to describe it,” Mr. But this strength can become a weakness when it comes to protecting the trademarks against genericization. It’s a paradox that brands with fanciful names that don’t otherwise exist in common language have stronger cases when applying for a trademark. Velcro even made a music video about the issue. I am looking for a generic term describing the relation actor:actress or Paul:Paula, like actress is a of actor.In German, there is the term Movierung for this, and it works in both directions (masculine -> feminine and feminine -> masculine), but looking up Movierung in dictionaries did not reveal an English equivalent. Xerox still has its trademark, as do Rollerblade and Clorox, both of which ran similar campaigns. They may even use a distinctive typeface to make the trademark stand out. Companies may also avoid using the plural form of the trademarked word (favoring “Lego bricks,” for instance, over “Legos”). For example, when you see a company using its brand as an adjective (“Use a Xerox copier”) rather than a verb (“Go Xerox this”), it is trying to prevent genericization. Some companies are fighting back against the generic use of their trademarks. There are generic terms for all these products, but when was the last time you packed a box with inflated cushioning, tossed a flying disc or attached anything using hook-and-loop fasteners? Bubble Wrap is a trademark of Sealed Air, Frisbee remains a trademark of Wham-O, and Velcro is trademarked by the company of the same name.

There are still plenty of familiar names that hold their trademarks. Escalator, cellophane, and laundromat have all lost their trademark status to genericide.

was a seminal case in which Bayer lost its trademark for Aspirin to what experts now refer to as “genericide.” That 1921 case set the table for the modern standard that courts currently follow: If a brand name is understood by the public to refer broadly to a category of goods and services rather than a brand’s specific good or service, a company may be at risk of losing its trademark. “So as a result of that, in trademark law, you cannot trademark things that are descriptive or generic in nature.”īayer Co. “When something becomes so pervasive in everyday society as a result of its own fame, there’s an argument that it no longer represents the brand, it almost represents the action,” Mr.

Pulpmotion generic terminology