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Subject:Re: Re[2]: Product names as adjectives? From:J M Forsyth <jmf -at- PSIONWORLD -dot- NET> Date:Mon, 9 Jun 1997 12:18:36 +0100
Fair enough, but consumers/those interested in the state of the language
are surely entitled to some give-and-take. That is, there are cases of
corporations registering ordinary phrases and thus taking them out of the
language. The legality of doing so is to say the least ambiguous, but if,
e.g., Microsoft choose to trademark the plain english sentence 'Where do
you want to go today?', people on the other side may feel justified in
appropriating copyrighted names as useful additions to the common
vocabulary.
----------
> From: Arnold Colodner <Arnold_Colodner -at- MAIL -dot- STIL -dot- SCITEX -dot- COM>
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re[2]: Product names as adjectives?
> Date: Monday, June 09, 1997 7:05 PM
>
>
> All product names that a company wishes to retain as proprietary
must
> be considered adjectives. Xerox ads constantly write that there are
> two Rs in Xerox, the second being the registered superscript. Why
are
> they doing this? Because other companies that were not careful in
the
> past have lost exclusivity for their trademarks. As soon as you use
> and let others use your trademark as a noun, it slowly becomes
> generic. Words like elevator, corn flakes, nylon, linotype and
> cellophane are just four of many, many examples. Band-Aid, Xerox,
> Frigidaire, and others are fighting an uphill battle,
>
> By using your brand name as an adjective and requesting others to do
> the same, you are taking steps to preserve your hold on the name.
> Apple requests that their product be called Macintosh computer, not
> Macintosh, but it's difficult to control, expecially when Mac is
also
> a registered trademark!! So Xerox would like you to say Xerox copier
> or Xerox photocopy, and never, oh never, to say Xerox it! or Make me
a
> Xerox. Had Otis used elevator as an adjective, Kellogs used corn
> flakes as an adjective, and duPont used nylon as an adjective, they
> might not be generic terms today.
>
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