Protecting Your Company's Intellectual Property: A Practical Guide to Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents & Trade Secrets

Genericide of Trademarks

Rights to marks can also be lost if the mark ceases to become an identifier of the source of goods and instead becomes a common name for goods, as is the case with aspirin, yo-yo, and cellophane, all of which were once valid trademarks and have lost their trademark significance through misuse by consumers. This genericide typically occurs when marks are used as nouns, as in ''I need an aspirin for my headache.'' Thus, companies whose marks are well known guard against genericide by educating consumers as to the use of marks and often inserting the word ''brand'' after the mark. Thus, proper use is ''I need adhesive tape'' or ''I need SCOTCH^® brand tape'' rather than ''I need scotch tape.''