genericized trademark

English

Noun

Examples
escalator heroin touch-tone Kleenex

genericized trademark (plural genericized trademarks)

1. (business, law) A successful brand name or trademark that has come to refer to the generic class of objects rather than the specific brand type.

   Synonym: proprietary eponym

Usage notes

In a legal system this state of usage may entail the legal effect of exclusive rights of said trademark being lost by the parent company.

In the legal system of the European Union, the requirement in question is under the Art. 58 I (b) of the Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trade mark that “in consequence of acts or inactivity of the proprietor, the trade mark has become the common name in the trade for a product or service in respect of which it is registered.” So terms to imply that legal requirement being fulfilled may be generic name, generic term, “generic expression ”, “common trade name”, “generic designation”, common term or common name opposed to trade name. Thus the term genericized trademark is not used but one has rather circumlocutions that the trademark “has become a generic name” etc. Companies that wish to prevent genericization of their trademarks do well to give the public a nonproprietary name or short description to fill the lexical gap that otherwise is likely to be filled naturally by genericization of the trademark. For example, for (hypothetical) special socks for winter warmth, the label might say "WARM-O-RAMA®" prominently and thermal socks in small letters.

Alternative forms

• genericised trademark

Translations

brand name that has come into general use

• Catalan: marca vulgaritzada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 通用商標／通用商标 (tōngyòng shāngbiāo)

• Finnish: yleisnimistynyt tavaramerkki
• French: nom de marque lexicalisé m, nom de marque générique m
• German: one says instead Gattungsbezeichnung (de) f, Gattungsbegriff m, just meaning generic name; however pursuant to § 49 II Nr. 1 MarkenG, where gebräuchliche Bezeichnung, for forfeiture of the trademark the naming must be in commercial intercourse; the same requirements are set down for European Union trade marks in Art. 58 I b) Regulation (EU) 2017/1001.
• Hungarian: fajtanévvé vált védjegy
• Portuguese: marca genérica f
• Spanish: marca vulgarizada (es) f, marca de uso común f, marca genericizada f, marca coloquializada f
• Swedish: varumärkesord (sv) n

See also

• proprietary eponym

Further reading

• “genericized trademark”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• genericized trademark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• List of former trademarks that have been genericized on Wikipedia.Wikipedia