TERMIUM Plus®

The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank.

GENERICIZED TRADE MARK [1 record]

Filter results by subject field Alphabetical list of terms

Filter results by subject field

Alphabetical list of terms

Record 1 2005-01-04

English

Subject field(s)
  • Trademarks (Law)
  • Administrative Law
CONT

Genericized trademarks are former brand names once legally protected as trademarks, which have since come to signify a generic product regardless of its manufacturer.

CONT

The dictionary is littered with genericized marks: pogo stick, escalator, and zipper were all once trademarked names.

OBS

To be considered a 'genericized trademark,' a word or phrase should meet two specific criteria: First, its origin should be as a trademark or product name, not a word in general use which was co-opted by a company and used as a trademark. Second, the word should have gone through a phase of genericization, in which it started out as a trademark or product name, but then came to mean 'any type of the same' object. For example, 'Kleenex', though still trademarked, qualifies as a genericized trademark because people generally refer to any brand of tissue as a 'Kleenex'.

OBS

The general term "mark" is often used in texts as an elliptical variant of "trademark."

Key term(s)
  • genericized trade-mark
  • genericized trade mark
  • genericised trade-mark
  • genericised trade mark

French

Domaine(s)
  • Marques de commerce (Droit)
  • Droit administratif
OBS

Se dit d'une marque reconnue par le grand public sur son nom initial.

OBS

Généricisé : il s'agit bien d'un néologisme qui n'apparait pas encore dans les dictionnaires contemporains. On le relève toutefois dans des textes provenant d'autres domaines sur Internet, par exemple, «le médicament généricisé a connu un développement considérable sur ce segment étroit».

Key term(s)
  • marque de commerce généricisée

Spanish

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