Genericness
Definition
The condition in which a brand name has become the common noun for a class of goods or services in public usage, causing the trademark to lose its distinctiveness and therefore its legal protection.
- Legal effect
- Loss of trademark protection
- Cause
- Public uses the brand name as a common noun
- Field
- Trademark and linguistic forensic evidence
- Also known as
- Genericide
Common questions
What evidence is typically used to prove genericness in court?+
Linguists and trademark experts often present dictionary entries, consumer surveys, and examples of media or competitor usage showing the term used generically rather than as a source identifier.
Can a trademark owner do anything to prevent genericness?+
Yes, owners actively police use of the mark, insist a generic noun accompany it in advertising (such as 'Kleenex tissue'), and challenge generic usage in media to preserve distinctiveness.
Is genericness the same as a trademark simply becoming very well known?+
No, strong recognition alone does not cause genericness. It happens specifically when consumers stop associating the term with a single source and use it to name the whole product category.
Related terms
- Corpus Linguistics
- The study of language through large, principled collections of texts or transcripts. In forensic work, corpus methods are used to count how...
- Descriptiveness
- The characteristic of a mark that directly describes a feature, quality, or ingredient of the goods or services. Descriptive marks receive little...
- Likelihood of Confusion
- The central test in trademark infringement: whether a reasonably attentive consumer would be confused about the commercial source of goods or services...
- Phonological Similarity
- The degree to which two marks sound alike when pronounced, assessed through minimal pair analysis, prosodic structure (syllable count and stress), and...
- Secondary Meaning
- The association that consumers make between a mark and a specific source, acquired over time through extensive use, even if the mark...