this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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In case anyone does not know: when a brand name becomes the generic term for a product or action, courts and trademark offices may determine the mark has become “genericized.” If that happens the owner may lose exclusive rights and the mark can enter the public domain.
See Zipper, Heroin, Escalator, Yo-Yo, etc.
So if you are anti-capitalist, you should photoshop with Gimp, google with duckduckgo and so on.
See also: Band-aid, Airfryer, Kerosene, Aspirin, Dry Ice, Laundromat, Linoleum, Thermos, Trampoline, Super Glue, Chap Stick
Fun fact: Aspirin and Heroin lost their trademark status in a different way than genericization. Those trademarks were ended because the winning countries in World War I forced the German company Bayer to give them up, as part of the reparations in the Treaty of Versailles.
When the US entered WW1 in 1917, the local branch of Bayer was seized and sold to another company, including the brand names "Aspirin" and "Heroin". It took until 1994 when Bayer bought the brand "Aspirin" back in the US.
Also Klaxon.
We are looooong past the point where "to google something" has been genericized. But nobody is brave enough to risk being sued by google.
The courts will not just declare a trademark to be generic. Someone has to release a product under that name, be sued by the trademark owner and then argue the trademark should be void because it is generic.
Lego, at least in Germany, is pushing strong against the use of Lego-bricks (Legosteine) in favour of building blocks (Klemmbausteine, "clamp-on bricks").