In case anyone does not know: when a brand name becomes the generic term for a product or action, courts and trademark offices may determine the mark has become “genericized.” If that happens the owner may lose exclusive rights and the mark can enter the public domain.
See Zipper, Heroin, Escalator, Yo-Yo, etc.
So if you are anti-capitalist, you should photoshop with Gimp, google with duckduckgo and so on.
Fun fact: Aspirin and Heroin lost their trademark status in a different way than genericization. Those trademarks were ended because the winning countries in World War I forced the German company Bayer to give them up, as part of the reparations in the Treaty of Versailles.
In case anyone does not know: when a brand name becomes the generic term for a product or action, courts and trademark offices may determine the mark has become “genericized.” If that happens the owner may lose exclusive rights and the mark can enter the public domain.
See Zipper, Heroin, Escalator, Yo-Yo, etc.
So if you are anti-capitalist, you should photoshop with Gimp, google with duckduckgo and so on.
See also: Band-aid, Airfryer, Kerosene, Aspirin, Dry Ice, Laundromat, Linoleum, Thermos, Trampoline, Super Glue, Chap Stick
Fun fact: Aspirin and Heroin lost their trademark status in a different way than genericization. Those trademarks were ended because the winning countries in World War I forced the German company Bayer to give them up, as part of the reparations in the Treaty of Versailles.
Also Klaxon.