4 ms·

Is that true for other branded items (such as Oreo cookies) or is it uniquely Lego bricks which incite this type of pedantry?

• MereInterest 11y ago
  It depends. In the US, trademarks are intended to protect the consumer, not the company. If consumers no longer associate a name with a particular brand, then the company loses control over the trademark. So long as a company continues to defend the trademark, they maintain control of it. That is why, for example, Xerox had a massive advertising campaign for the use of the word "photocopy". Previously, "Xerox" was used to refer to making a copy of a document, and Xerox (the company) was in danger of losing the trademark. Wikipedia has a good list of names that are in the process of becoming generic, much to the dismay of the companies that hold the trademarks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks#List_of_protected_trademarks_frequently_used_as_generic_terms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize...
  • column 11y ago
    While you are technically correct (at least in the USA) there are many examples in that least that are widely used as generics for decades while style maintaining trademark protection: 'Kleenex', 'Bubble Warp', 'Dictaphone'...
    • deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  • albedoa 11y ago
    > In the US, trademarks are intended to protect the consumer, not the company. They are meant to protect each in different ways.