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Is the term "google" too generic and therefore unworthy of its trademark protection? That's the question before the US Supreme Court.
Words like teleprompter, thermos, hoover, aspirin, and videotape were once trademarked. They lost the status after their names became too generic and fell victim to what is known as "genericide."
What's before the Supreme Court is a trademark lawsuit that Google already defeated in a lower court. The lawsuit claims that Google should no longer be trademarked because the word "google" is synonymous to the public with the term "search the Internet."
"There is no single word other than google that conveys the action of searching the Internet using any search engine," according to the petition to the Supreme Court.
It's perhaps one of the most consequential trademark case before the justices since they ruled in June that offensive trademarks must be allowed.
Source: Ars Technica
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @12:04AM (6 children)
Do we want the legal president set that makes it all but impossible to trademark names because the name became part of the public lexicon? No company would dare engage in trademarks again if all that had to happen was the general public started using it as slang and you no longer have a trademark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:17AM
Evidently, Americans want the illegal president, or at least the "honor his heritage" Nazi sympathizing one. Not that this should be taken as any kind of precedent, because Lindberg did it first.
(Score: 1) by Beau Slim on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:43AM (1 child)
"legal president"? Was that a Freudian slip, or does your auto-correct have a political bias? Don't get me wrong--I'm fed up too!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @03:09AM
Audit the Fed!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @06:12AM
Oh my, how terrible. I'd be heartbroken if that happened. Truly, a disaster of the highest order.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @10:10AM
The legal precedent is already there. Look no further than the second paragraph of the summary to learn more.
Apparently it didn't stop companies from engaging in trademarks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:41PM
I doubt that. If a trademark becomes generic it usually means the product behind it has great market dominance, which is what the company really wants. Any smart company would still be in great shape even after loosing their trademark. I'd rather have 90% market dominance and loose my trademark than to have only a small percentage and a protected name.