Legal Definitions - genericide

Genericide describes the process where a distinctive brand name, which is legally protected as a trademark, gradually loses its unique association with a specific company's product or service. This occurs when the general public begins to use the brand name as a common, everyday term for an entire category of products or services, rather than just the original brand. When a trademark becomes generic, it loses its legal protection, meaning other companies can freely use the term, and the original owner can no longer prevent others from doing so. This loss of exclusive rights can significantly diminish the value and distinctiveness of a brand.

Here are some examples illustrating how a brand name can be at risk of genericide:

• Post-it® Notes: "Post-it" is a registered trademark of 3M for its repositionable adhesive notes. However, it's common for people to ask for "Post-it notes" when they simply mean any brand of sticky, repositionable paper. If this generic usage becomes so widespread that the public no longer associates "Post-it" exclusively with 3M's product, the trademark could be at risk of genericide, allowing competitors to use the term.
• Kleenex®: "Kleenex" is a well-known trademark owned by Kimberly-Clark for its brand of facial tissues. Many individuals, however, habitually refer to any brand of facial tissue as "Kleenex." This widespread use of the brand name to describe the general product category (facial tissues) rather than just Kimberly-Clark's specific product illustrates a strong risk of genericide, which could lead to the loss of trademark protection.
• Google™ (as a verb): "Google" is a trademark for the search engine provided by Google LLC. Yet, it has become a common verb, as in "I'll Google it," to mean "I'll search for information on the internet," regardless of which search engine is actually used. This generic use of "Google" to describe the act of searching, rather than specifically using Google's search engine, is a classic example of a brand name being pushed towards genericide through common linguistic adoption.