Let's commit Genericide!

[beautifulduckweed]

I don't know why I feel a perverse glee in seeing a famous registered trademark rendered unrenewable because it's become a generic term, but there you have it. Perhaps because I see it as a just price for fame and its attendant mind share? Thus, here are some terms I use generically (either as a noun, or verbed) despite being Somebody Who Should Know Better Since She's Taken a Class in Intellectual Property Law And All.

Cling wrap
Crock pot
Tivo
Google
Xerox
Photoshop
Chapstick
Q-tip
Rollerblade
Vaseline
Band-Aid
Frisbee
Viagra
Jello
Walkman/Discman (though this perhaps betrays my age, what with you kids and your fancy newfangled iPods and all--GET OFFA MY LAWN)
Tums
Sharpie
Cuisinart

Some that have become so generic, I had no idea until recently they were trademarked terms once upon a time:

Aspirin
Linoleum
Escalator
Trampoline
Touch-tone
Heroin
Lanolin

This drive-by post brought to you by the number Way Too Little Goddamn Sleep and the letter Oh God Cramming for IP Final on Monday.

Comments

[jennekirby.livejournal.com]

Some of mine:
Ziploc
Tupperware
Kleenex
Blackberry
Bubble Wrap (I do this one intentionally. The Sealed Air company were the ones who funded my position at RPI. I don't like them.)
KimWipes (a type of wipe used in labs, kinda like kleenex)
Scotch tape
Coke
Tofu Pup (what?)

[jennekirby.livejournal.com]

Oh! Also:
Neosporin
Jacuzzi
Hoovering (for vacuuming)
Google

[bonobo23.livejournal.com]

WD LOVES Tofu Pups.

[yodiepants.livejournal.com]

And a Cresent Wrench!

I luv getting verbed.