GENERIC DESCRIPTION

  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

GENERIC DESCRIPTION

Specialty Definition: Genericized trademark

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Genericized trademarks are trademarks used to mean more than the original product. Trademarks, unlike other forms of intellectual property such as copyrights and patents, must be actively used and defended. A copyright or patent holder may simply "sit on" his creation and prevent its use, but a trademark owner claiming and even registering a trademark that fails to make active use of it, or fails to defend it against infringement may lose the exclusive right to use it. Further, if a court rules that a formerly trademarked term has become so successful in gaining mind share and becomes "generic" through common use (and so the average consumer doesn't realize it is a trademark), it may also be ruled invalid. A trademark may also become generic if the owner of the trademark registration fails to comply with the registration requirements.

Trademark owners should never use the trademark as a verb or noun, implying the word is generic. Likewise, using the trademark as a plural or possessive (i.e. a noun) will imply the trademark is generic.

Trademark owners whose trademark is commonly used by consumers may have to take special proactive measures. Xerox took out ads advising consumers to "photocopy" instead of "Xeroxing" documents. In a less drastic but more common practice, many owners 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."

The concept of genericized trademarks is parodied in the 1993 film Demolition Man where Taco Bell is used as the generic word for "restaurant"; even fine dining establishments.

In 2003 the European Union is seeking to restrict the use of region names as trademarks for speciality food and drink to manufacturers from the region. Extending these restrictions outside Europe is controversial because regional names that are trademarks within Europe are often considered generic in other countries. It is made even more difficult where regional names have been trademarked outside Europe, such as Parma ham, which is trademarked in Canada by a Canadian manufacturer, preventing the manufacturers from Parma from using their own name. Products affected include Champagne, Bordeaux and many other wine names, Roquefort, Parmesan and Feta cheese, Scotch whisky and Parma ham. In the 1990s the Parma consortium successfully sued the Asda supermarket chain to prevent it using the trademark Parma on ham not produced and packed in Parma.

English words that were originally trademarks:

Words that are often used as a "generic" but still trademarked. (This is necessarily a "subjective" list.)

See also

External links

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INDEX

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Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.