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Don't Say Velcro (2017)

velcro.com

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Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#31

Post by dathinab »

1f60c wrote: post #19

(2017), according to https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/26/velcros-video... They're trying to avoid genericide. I think if they didn't do this, they could actually lose the trademark .

but can they really stop it?

I mean in most cases where a term becomes "generic" it has been long time generic before at some point someone bothers to make a study/lawsuit which declares it as generic as result.

For example pretty much everyone I know uses Lego as a generic term and knows about not Lego produced bricks. Currently Lego still managed to defend the trademark but IMHO it's just a matter of time until it becomes generic because it already defacto is and the only reason they still avoid it becoming generic is protectionism.

Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#33

Post by antender »

richie_adler wrote: post #26
orthoxerox wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this a uniquely US thing? No, in Russia people have been xerring documents since photocopiers appeared there.

"Xerring"? Not "xeroxing"?

Yep, in Russian xerring (ксерить) sounds way better because "ox" part is rarely used in native words.

Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#34

Post by cassianoleal »

bradley13 wrote: post #5

Reminds me of the dark ages, when Xerox was so dominant in the copier market that people used their brand as a noun and a verb. They were threatened with loss of their trademark, because it had become so generic. So they had a massive publicity campaign, asking people to say "copy" instead of "xerox". Is this a uniquely US thing? In the UK, people always say "hoover" instead of "vacuum".

In Brazil, "xerox" is synonym with copy and is used in pretty much any context where the latter word makes sense (even if it's not a copy of a document). The verb "xerocar" derives from it, and even appears in dictionaries.

https://www.dicio.com.br/xerocar/ https://dicionario.priberam.org/xerocar

Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#35

Post by bombcar »

dathinab wrote: post #31
1f60c wrote: post #19

(2017), according to https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/26/velcros-video... They're trying to avoid genericide. I think if they didn't do this, they could actually lose the trademark .

but can they really stop it? I mean in most cases where a term becomes "generic" it has been long time generic before at some point someone bothers to make a study/lawsuit which declares it as generic as result. For example pretty much everyone I know uses Lego as a generic term and knows about not Lego produced bricks. Currently Lego still managed to defend the trademark but IMHO it's just a matter of time until it…

I suspect as long as they don’t allow competitors to genericize the trademark they’ll be ok.

After all there are regions where all soda is called “coke” and that trademark hasn’t been lost.

Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#36

Post by dchest »

jbverschoor wrote: post #21

Americans tend to use brand names instead of the words for things.. Xerox, Velcro etc... We call it klittenband.. tangle band. Or tangle strip

Not only Americans, xerox is a word for copier in other languages. In Mongolia, it's canon instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize...

Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)

#39

Post by Faaak »

merelysounds wrote: post #28

Related, Google wrote a blog post[1] on a similar topic in 2006. As far as I know they've successfully avoided genericide and a 2017 lawsuit[2] ended with a ruling in their favor. Also, unsurprisingly, Adobe has a whole section in their trademarks page about photoshopping[3]: > Correct: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software. > Incorrect: The image was photoshopped. [1]: https://googleblog.bl…

> Correct: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.

Dumb question: how would you pronounce this if you were saying it ? Specifically the ® symbol ?

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