GENERICIDE “GOOGLE HAS


PUBLISHED A LONG LIST OF DOS AND DON’TS WHEN IT COMES TO USING ITS TRADEMARK, INCLUDING EMPLOYING IT ONLY AS AN


ADJECTIVE, AND NEVER A NOUN OR VERB.”


“Courts have taken the position that the


public’s understanding of the term as generic must have dwindled to almost nothing, and have been replaced by evidence that the term now indicates a single source. Such a change has been characterised as ‘drastic’ and therefore highly unusual. “For example, a holding that ‘Ale House’ was


generic was re-affi rmed over ten years later, even though the mark owner came forth with


evidence of distinctiveness and secondary meaning, where the court concluded that such proof did not come close to the dramatic showing needed to establish a change,” he says. If a company’s trademark becomes generic, loses legal protection, but there


clearly it


are further problems too. As Stone explains, licensees would likely “turn around and say ‘why am I paying you a fee when you don’t own any rights in this jurisdiction?’”.


Last year a US district court rejected a claim that ‘Google’, according to a majority of the public, means searching on the internet regardless of the search engine used.


He adds that genericide would “wipe off


brand value over night”. Looking back at Interbrand’s list, and


the billion-dollar fi gures attached to each company’s name, it’s clear just how important trademark protection is for preserving such high worth and reputation. If consumers no longer recognise a company as the source of the goods they buy or the services they use, it’s likely to be very costly indeed. 


www.worldipreview.com


World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2015


21


Turtix / Shutterstock.com


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