If you’re like me, until Uber came along you’d never heard of “peer-to-peer car sharing” services. For many people, Kleenex is what they think of when they think of tissues and Xerox fills the same role for photocopiers. Most of us also know that UBER, KLEENEX, and XEROX are trademarks and brand names, not the generic terms for product categories.
But what if you’ve come up with a whole new category of product or service?
Of course, it’s important to come up with a strong brand name that you can protect as a trademark.
For a refresher on trademarks, check out my podcast episode - What Is a Trademark?
But you should also come up with a generic name for the category of product or service. This is a term that you’re not going to protect as a trademark. You want everyone to use it without any claim of ownership.
For example, if you were about to launch Uber and it was the first ever peer-to-peer car sharing service (it wasn’t, but let’s say it was for the purpose of this example), you’d not only want to come up with a strong brand name for your new service (UBER), but you’d also have to invent the “peer-to-peer car sharing service” description. That way you could advise people not to call that type of service an “uber.” Instead, you’d use your marketing and PR communications to reinforce the message that “UBER is the premiere brand for peer-to-peer car sharing.”
Another easy way to think of this is to conjure up the image of the aisles in your local drugstore. Just about every product you’ll find has a brand name and a generic product category name as well (often, there are generic versions of the same products.) TYLENOL brand pain reliever. OPTI-FREE brand contact lens solution. You get the idea. So the first company to create contact lens solution had to not only come up with that brand name, but also the generic description “contact lens solution” as well.
So, if you’re clever enough to come up with a concept that nobody’s done before, you have two homework assignments:
- Come up with a unique brand name that can function as a trademark; and
- Come up with a less sexy, less distinctive, generic term for this category of goods or services.
