Examples
A few examples of trademarks that have lost their legal protection in the US are:
- Aqua-lung
- Aspirin, originally a trademark of Bayer AG
- Escalator, originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company
- Heroin, originally a trademark of Bayer AG
- Kerosene, originally a trademark of Abraham Gesner
- Phillips-head screw, named after Henry F. Phillips
- Pogo for the toy Pogo stick
- Thermos, originally a trademark of Thermos GmbH
- Yo-yo, originally a trademark of Duncan Yo-Yo Company
- Zipper, originally a trademark of B.F. Goodrich
While Linoleum, coined by its inventor and patent holder Frederick Walton, is the first product term ruled by a court as generic, it was never used as a trademark.
Styrofoam is often incorrectly used as a generic term for expanded (not extruded) polystyrene foam, such as disposable coffee cups, coolers, or cushioning material in packaging, which are typically white and are made of expanded polystyrene beads.
Other trademarks have come close to genericization, but have been rescued by aggressive corrective campaigns. Such is the case with Xerox for photocopiers, Plexiglas for shatter-resistant polymer glass, Kleenex for facial tissues, Band-Aid for adhesive bandages, Ziploc for reusable and zippable plastic bags, and others. A trademark owner takes a risk in engaging in such a corrective campaign because the campaign may serve as an admission that the trademark is generic. So, the owner must irreversibly commit to continuing the campaign until relatively sure the trademark has achieved primary meaning as a trademark rather than as a common name of the product or service.
Read more about this topic: Generic Trademark
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