this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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Corporations are terrified of their name becoming genericized, though. At least in the US, a company can lose it's protection of the use of their name if they don't fight it being used for things that are not their product. For example, "Dumpster" used to be a trademarked name for a large outdoor garage bin. It became so popular that every large outdoor garbage bin was called a dumpster, and now everyone making and selling them can call it a dumpster without getting sued
They also didn't adequately defend their brand though. You can prevent genericization if you make it clear that it's a brand, in which case it's only to your benefit that people are confused.
It's why the bandaid advertising jingle actually specifies the word "band-aid brand" because they're a hairs breadth away from becoming generic.