Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

"Lost" meaning that one loses the right to stop others from using the genericized brand, not meaning that the trademark ceases to exist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize...



The best case for the genericization argument in that list might be Lineoleum, but Lineoleum wasn't even a registered trademark. So that's literally the story: Guy invents Lineoleun. Product is popular, other people make the same product under the same name, he's not very happy about that so he goes to court and says hey, that's my trademark. No it isn't, you don't have a trademark.


If it becomes generic it might as well be, but that's not the issue here. Anyway, the parent post has a google jd in trademark law and doesn't know what he's talking about, but you can't enforce your TM the same way, or if at all, if has become generic. The main way you lose tm rights is by not using the mark.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: