genericide

English

Etymology

From generic +‎ -cide.

Noun

genericide (plural genericides)

1. (trademark law) The process by which trademark rights are diminished or lost as a result of common use in the marketplace.

   Synonyms: genericization, trademark erosion

   • 2007, Paul Goldstein, Intellectual Property: The Tough New Realities That Could Make or Break Your Business‎^[1], Penguin, →ISBN:

     Of course, the irony is that genericide occurs at the very moment a product manager's dream comes true and the product brand becomes synonymous with the product itself.

   • 2008, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Mark D. Janis, editors, Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research, Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN, page 87:

     A legal determination of genericide is an instantaneous elimination of the associations between mark and product built up in the minds of consumers.

   • 2009 July 18, Noam Cohen, “The Power of the Brand as Verb”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Imagine the glee in Microsoft headquarters if Google lost its trademark protection to genericide. If “google” becomes synonymous with conducting an Internet search, then Microsoft could legally and confusingly advertise by saying: “Use Bing for all of your most complicated googling!”

   • 2017 May 16, Elliott v. Google, Inc., No. 15-15809 (9th Cir. 2017)‎^[3], page 12:

     Because a claim of genericide must relate to a particular type of good or service and because verb use does not necessarily constitute generic use, the district court did not err when it refused to frame its inquiry as whether the relevant public primarily uses the word “google” as a verb.

   • 2019 June 25, Whitson Gordon, “How a Brand Name Becomes Generic”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Escalator, cellophane, and laundromat have all lost their trademark status to genericide.

2. (uncommon) The act or process of letting a trademark term become so common that the trademark is indefensible.

See also

• brand
• registered trademark
• servicemark
• trademark