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A genericized trademark (also known as a generic trade mark or proprietary eponym) is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for (or synonymous with) a particular class of product or service. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual Industrial design rights are Intellectual property rights that protect the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian A utility model is an Intellectual property right to protect Inventions This right is available in a number of national Legislations such as Argentina A geographical indication (GI is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (eg A trade secret is a Formula, practice, Process, Design, instrument, Pattern, or compilation of Information which Related rights is a term in Copyright law used in opposition to the term " Authors' rights " A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a Business trades under for commercial purposes although its registered In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according Sui generis (English pronunciation ( IPA) /ˌsuːiˈdʒɛnərɪs/ roughly "SOO-ee JEN-a-ris" Latin pronunciation /ˌsuːiˈgeneris/ is a Neo-Latin In European Union law, a database right is a legal right introduced in 1996. A mask work is a two or three-dimensional layout or topography of an Integrated circuit (IC or "chip" i Plant breeders' rights (PBR also known as plant variety rights (PVR are Intellectual property rights granted to the breeder of a new variety In European Union member countries a supplementary protection certificate (SPC is a Sui generis, Patent -like Intellectual property Indigenous intellectual property is an umbrella legal term used in national and international forums to identify Indigenous peoples ' special rights to claim (from within Critics of the term " Intellectual property " argue that the increased use of this terminology coincided with a more general shift away from thinking about things like copyright A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech, writing or Paralinguistics. A service is the non-material equivalent of a good. A service provision is an economic activity that does not result in Ownership, and this is what differentiates Using a genericized trademark to refer to the general form of what that trademark represents is a form of metonymy. In Rhetoric, metonymy (mɨˈtɒnɨmi is the use of a word for a concept or object associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word (See examples below. )
A trademark typically becomes "genericized" when the products or services with which it is associated have acquired substantial market dominance or mind share. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual Market dominance is a measure of the strength of a Brand, product, service, or firm, relative to competitive offerings The term is legally significant in that unless a company works sufficiently to prevent such broad use of its trademark, its intellectual property rights in the trademark may be lost. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names
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Classic examples include:
Whether or not a mark is popularly identified as genericized, the owner of the mark may still be able to enforce the proprietary rights which attach to the use or registration of the mark, so long as the mark continues to exclusively identify the owner as the commercial origin of the applicable products or services. History The Band-Aid was invented in 1920 by Earle Dickson, an employee of Johnson & Johnson for his wife Josephine who frequently cut and burned herself while cooking The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country ChapStick is a Brand name for Lip balm manufactured by Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, used in the United States, Australia, Canada Coca-Cola is a carbonated Soft drink sold in stores restaurants and Vending machines in more than 200 countries The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Dremel is a brand of tools primarily Rotary tools developed by Albert J Durex is the trademarked name for a range of Condoms made by UK -based multinational SSL International. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Esky is an Australian brand of Coolers manufactured by Nylex The name is a reference to the association of Eskimos with cold climates For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Laxatives (or purgatives) are foods compounds or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool most often taken to treat Constipation. Febreze is a brand of household odor eliminator manufactured by Procter & Gamble, sold in North America, Asia and Europe. Flit or FLIT is the brand name for an Insecticide with the primary active ingredient of Pyrethrum. Frigidaire is a major US Appliance company owned by Electrolux. The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. A vacuum cleaner (in colloquial British English also hoover) is a device that uses an air Pump to create a partial Vacuum to Suck In Footwear and Fashion, flip-flops (also known as thongs, jandals, slippers, or pluggers) are a flat backless usually Jacuzzi is a company that produces whirlpool Bathtubs History Around 1900 seven brothers named Jacuzzi (pronounced yah-KUH-tzih immigrated Jell-O is a Brand name belonging to USA -based Kraft Foods for a number of Gelatin desserts including fruit gels Puddings and no-bake Jet Ski is the Brand name of Personal watercraft (PWC manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd Cat litter (often called kitty litter) is one of any of a number of materials used in Litter boxes to absorb moisture from Cat Feces and Kleenex is a Brand name for a variety of products such as Facial tissue, Bathroom tissue, Paper towels, and Diapers. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Linoleum is a Floor covering made from solidified Linseed oil (linoxyn in combination with Wood flour or cork dust over a Burlap or Canvas Molex connector is the vernacular term for a two-piece " pin and socket " interconnection most frequently disk drive connectors Pampers is a brand of baby products marketed by Procter & Gamble worldwide Photo manipulation is the application of Image editing techniques to Photographs in order to create an Illusion or Deception (in contrast to mere Popsicle is the most popular brand of Ice pop in the US and Canada. Pop-Tarts is the brand for a flat rectangular Toaster pastry approximately by made by the Kellogg Company. Cotton swabs ( British English: cotton buds) are used in First aid, Cosmetics application and a variety of other uses Cotton swabs ( British English: cotton buds) are used in First aid, Cosmetics application and a variety of other uses A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information (the name is a Portmanteau word of Rol ling and In' dex') currently manufactured Rollerblade is a type of Inline skate. The name is a Registered trademark owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Trevignano, Sellotape is a European brand of transparent Cellulose -based pressure-sensitive Adhesive tape, and is the leading brand of clear sticky tape in the Scotch Tape is used to describe certain Pressure sensitive tapes manufactured by 3M as part of the company's Scotch brand Sharpie is a brand name for a line of Permanent markers manufactured by Sanford sold in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom For the musical group "Drywall" see Drywall (musical project Drywall is a common manufactured Building material Worldwide consumption 7-Eleven stores are a franchise, and Slurpees are offered in many but not all covered countries Speedo is a manufacturer of swimwear and accessories The company was started by Alexander MacRae under the name of MacRae Hosiery Manufacturers in Bondi Beach Tannoy Ltd is a British manufacturer of Loudspeakers and public-address (PA systems Teflon is a Registered trademark and Brand name of the DuPont company for products made from three types of fluorine-containing polymers ( Fluoropolymers Tipp-Ex is a Brand of Correction fluid and other related products that is popular throughout Europe. TiVo (pronounced ˈtiːvoʊ is a brand of Digital video recorder (DVR in the United States, Canada, and Australia created by TiVo Tupperware is the brand name of a home products line that includes preparation storage and serving products for the kitchen and home which debuted in 1946 Tylenol is a North American Brand of Drugs for relieving pain, reducing Fever, and relieving the symptoms of allergies, cold Velcro is a brand name of fabric hook-and-loop fasteners. It consists of two layers a "hook" side which is a piece of Fabric covered with tiny hooks WaveRunner is the trademarked name of Personal water craft (PWC produced by the Yamaha Motor Company, but the term "waverunner" has become a Windex is a Trademark for a Glass and light-duty Hard surface cleaner manufactured since 1933 (currently by S Also see Whiteout, and 1951 invention Liquid Paper. Wite-Out is a Trademark for a line of Correction fluid X-Acto is a brand of tools owned by Elmer's Products Inc The company manufactures knives saws tweezers and many other small scale hand tools used for crafts hobbies and A scalpel is a small but extremely sharp knife used for Surgery, anatomical Dissection, and various Arts and crafts. Xerox Corporation ( (name ˈziːrɒks is a global document management company which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction A photocopier (or copier is a machine that makes Paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply An ice resurfacer is a truck-like vehicle used to clean and smooth the surface of an Ice rink, originally developed by Frank J Ziploc is a brand of disposable re-sealable Zipper storage bags and containers originally developed by Dow Chemical Company, and now produced by S zipper (data structure A zipper ( English: zip fastener or zip) is a popular device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric. Zippo lighter is a refillable metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford Pennsylvania. Naphtha normally refers to a number of different flammable liquid mixtures of hydrocarbons i The word proprietary indicates that a party or proprietor exercises private Ownership, control or use over an item of Property. If the mark does not perform this essential function and it is no longer possible to legally enforce rights in relation to the mark, the mark may have become generic. In many legal systems (e. g. , in the United States but not in Germany) a generic mark forms part of the public domain and can be commercially exploited by anyone. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Nevertheless, there exists the possibility of a trade mark to become a revocable generic term in German (and European) trademark law.
The process by which trademark rights are diminished or lost as a result of common use in the marketplace is sometimes known as genericide. This process typically occurs over a period of time where a mark is not used as a trademark (i. e. , where it is not used to exclusively identify the products or services of a particular business), where a mark falls into disuse entirely, or where the trademark owner does not enforce its rights through actions for passing off or trademark infringement. In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy For other uses of this and related terms please refer to the " Pass " disambiguation page Trademark infringement is a violation of the Exclusive rights attaching to a Trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that
One risk factor which may lead to genericide is the use of a trademark as a verb, noun, plural or possessive, unless the mark itself is possessive or plural (e. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world g. , "Friendly's" restaurants). [2]
Trademark owners will naturally seek to maximize the popularity of their marks, and may believe that a certain level of genericity demonstrates how well-known and successful a mark has become. However, generic use of a trademark presents an inherent risk to the effective enforcement of trademark rights and may ultimately lead to genericide.
Trademark owners may take various steps to reduce the risk of genericide, including educating businesses and consumers on appropriate trademark use, avoiding use of their marks in a generic manner, and systematically and effectively enforcing their trademark rights. If a trademark is associated with a new invention, the trademark owner may also consider developing a generic term for the product to be used in descriptive contexts, in order to avoid inappropriate use of the "house" mark. An invention is a new form composition of matter device or Process. Such a term is called a generic descriptor, and is frequently used immediately after the trademark to provide a description of the product or service. For example, "Kleenex tissues" (tissues being the generic descriptor) or "Velcro fasteners" (fasteners being the generic descriptor).
Where a trademark is used generically, a trademark owner may need to take special proactive measures in order to retain exclusive rights to the trademark. In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto non-tangible Prerogative existing in law (that is the power or in a wider sense Right Xerox provides one successful example of a company which was able to prevent the genericide of its core trademark through an extensive public relations campaign advising consumers to "photocopy" instead of "Xeroxing" documents (the brand did become generic in Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese and Romanian, though. Xerox Corporation ( (name ˈziːrɒks is a global document management company which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction A photocopier (or copier is a machine that makes Paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance See list of generic and genericized trademarks). List of generic trademarks See also Genericized trademark The following list contains marks which were originally created and used as Trademarks but which Another common practice amongst trademark owners is to follow their trademark with the word "brand" to help define the word as a trademark. Johnson & Johnson changed the lyrics of their Band-Aid television commercial jingle from, "I am stuck on Band-Aids, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me" to "I am stuck on Band-Aid brand, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me. Johnson & Johnson ( is a global American Pharmaceutical, Medical devices and consumer packaged goods Manufacturer founded in 1886 History The Band-Aid was invented in 1920 by Earle Dickson, an employee of Johnson & Johnson for his wife Josephine who frequently cut and burned herself while cooking " Google has gone to lengths to prevent this process, discouraging publications from using the term 'googling' in reference to web-searches. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online This led New Scientist's Feedback section to coin the neologism FWSEing, in reference to the Famous Web Search Engine. New Scientist is a weekly International science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English -speaking A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been [3] In 2006, "google" has been defined in the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb meaning "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet. The Verb to google (also spelled to Google) refers to using the Google search engine to obtain information on the Web. Merriam-Webster, which was originally the G & C Merriam Company of Springfield Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English "[4][5]
One example of an active effort to prevent the genericization of a trademark was that of the LEGO Company, which printed in manuals in the 1970s and 1980s a request to customers that they call the company's interlocking plastic building blocks "'LEGO blocks' or 'toys' and not 'LEGOs'. Lego, officially trademarked LEGO, is a line of construction Toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately " While this went largely unheeded, and many children and adults referred to the pieces as "LEGOs", use of the deprecated term remained largely confined to the LEGO Company's own products – and not, for example, to Tyco's competing and interchangeable product – so genericization of the LEGO trademark did not occur.
The terms genericide and genericized trademark are not technical terms; legally, genericide is a malapropism. Technical terminology is the specialized Vocabulary of a field A malapropism (also called a Dogberryism) is the substitution of an incorrect word for a word with a similar sound usually to comic effect Alternative terms have been suggested by various commentators, such as the judge in Plasticolor Molded Products v. Ford Motor Company, who suggested genericization or trademarkicide,[6] a member of Cecil Adams's contributing board who suggested brand eponym in The Straight Dope Mailbag,[7] and others who have suggested proprietary eponym. Cecil Adams is a name possibly a Pseudonym, which designates the Author of The Straight Dope, a popular question and answer column published The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer Newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty Newspapers However, to date only genericide has been used in legal literature. [8]
The section above describes the situation in countries such as the United States, where a genericization causes a trademark to lose its protection, a consequence the trademark owner might wish to avoid. In other countries, e. g. in Germany, a trademark stays protected even after genericization. In this case, the outcome is very positive for the owner; the customer might not even know the proper non-trademarked term for the product, or consider this term as very artificial sounding and/or inconvenient, and hence associates only the trademark owner's product with the whole range of products, possibly even being ignorant about alternatives.
The classic example is Bayer's trademark for the drug Aspirin. For other uses see Bayer (disambiguation or Beyer or Buyer. Bayer AG (German ˈbaɪə () is a German Aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA (əˌsɛtɨlsælɨˌsɪlɨk ˈæsɨd is a Salicylate drug, often used as an Analgesic to relieve A customer at a pharmacy is more likely to ask for "Aspirin" than for "acetylsalicylic acid tablets", which is the name all manufacturers of generic versions of the drug are forced to use in order not to infringe the trademark. In the United States, Bayer lost the trademark to the word "aspirin" after World War I. In 1921, a landmark ruling by Learned Hand established "aspirin" as a genericized trademark. Billings Learned Hand (January 27 1872 – August 18 1961 [9]
Since 2003, the European Union has actively sought to restrict the use of geographical indications by third parties outside the EU by enforcing laws regarding what is known as "protected designation of origin". Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in A geographical indication (GI is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (eg Although a geographical indication for specialty food or drink may be generic, it is not a trademark because it does not serve to exclusively identify a specific commercial enterprise, and therefore cannot constitute a genericized trademark.
The extension of protection for geographical indications is somewhat controversial because a geographical indication may have been registered as a trademark elsewhere. For example, if "Parma Ham" were part of a trademark registered in Canada by a Canadian manufacturer, ham manufacturers actually located in Parma, Italy might be unable to use this name in Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Parma is a City in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna near Modena famous for its Architecture and the fine countryside around it Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Bordeaux, cheeses such as Roquefort, Parmesan, and Feta, Pisco liquor, and Scotch whisky are examples of geographical indications. A Bordeaux wine is any Wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Roquefort ( AmE, BrE, French; from Occitan ròcafòrt) is a Sheep milk blue Cheese from the south Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard fat Granular cheese, cooked but not pressed named after the producing areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Feta ( φέτα, also spelled fetta) is a brined Curd Cheese traditionally made in Greece with goat's and Scotch whisky is Whisky made in Scotland. In Britain the term whisky is usually taken to mean Scotch unless otherwise specified In the 1990s, the Parma consortium successfully sued the Asda supermarket chain to prevent it using the description "Parma ham" on prosciutto produced in Parma but sliced outside the region. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 Asda is a United Kingdom Supermarket chain which retails food clothing and general merchandise Customer divider barjpg|thumb|In supermarkets sellers periodically change prices for classes of goods in response to market conditions rather than negotiating the price of each good Prosciutto (proˈʃutːo pronounced "pro-shoo-toe" is the Italian word for ham.
Some common names for products or services are popularly believed to be genericized trademarks. For example, it is often thought that the common names for wines such as port and sherry are genericized trademarks. Port wine (also known as Vinho do Porto, Oporto, Porto, and often simply Port) is a Portuguese, Fortified Sherry is a Fortified wine, made in and around the town of Jerez, Spain. This is not the case because the names were never originally created or used as trademarks.
In some cases companies have managed to register common names as trade marks, but this typically results in the eventual cancellation or surrender of the registration concerned. This has occurred in the United States in relation to rooibos. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Rooibos (ˈrɔɪbɒs like "roy-boss" Afrikaans for "red bush" scientific name Aspalathus linearis) is a [10]