Dictionary

genericide en · NOUN

Etymology

From generic + -cide.

Meanings

1. (countable, qualifier:trademark law, uncountable) The process by which trademark rights are diminished or lost as a result of common use in the marketplace.
   • 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!” 2009 July 18, Noam Cohen, “The Power of the Brand as Verb”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 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. 2017 May 16, Elliott v. Google, Inc., No. 15-15809 (9th Cir. 2017), page 12:
   • Escalator, cellophane, and laundromat have all lost their trademark status to genericide. 2019 June 25, Whitson Gordon, “How a Brand Name Becomes Generic”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 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. 2007, Paul Goldstein, Intellectual Property: The Tough New Realities That Could Make or Break Your Business, Penguin, →ISBN:
   • A legal determination of genericide is an instantaneous elimination of the associations between mark and product built up in the minds of consumers. 2008, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Mark D. Janis, editors, Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research, Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN, page 87:
2. (countable, uncommon, uncountable) The act or process of letting a trademark term become so common that the trademark is indefensible.

Forms

Relateds

registered trademark · servicemark · trademark · brand

Synonyms

trademark erosion · genericization