This certainly plays into it. From my understanding, part of "owning" a brand is actively protecting it from generifying (generification? ... keeping the brand

This certainly plays into it. From my understanding, part of "owning" a brand is actively protecting it from generifying (generification? ... keeping the brand name from turning into a generic designation). If a term becomes synonymous with a class of product, it's no worthy of trademark protection. That's why companies are fairly protective of their brand names and insist that you use phrasing like "Scotch Brand adhesive tape" and avoid using the verb "to google". Terms like "Escalator" and "Zipper" fall under that category. On the other hand, even though you may think "Kleenex" is a generic term, good look trying to sell facial tissues under that moniker.