A recent story in USA Today asked whether “iPad” will become the generic term for tablet computers. While I’m glad that the media are discussing trademarks at all, I think the article didn’t accurately communicate how and why some trademarks become generic, while others don’t. Let’s take a look at the concept of Genericide, applied to how Apple positions its products, and show why “iPad” is not generic for “Tablet” in the real world. Genericide “Aspirin” was originally a trademark owned by Bayer. Over time, the word became, in the eyes of the public, a generic term for the underlying…
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Baseball Trademarks
April 4, 2012
It’s time once again for my favorite season: baseball season. In that spirit, I thought I’d share a few baseball trademarks and stories.
Trayvon Trademarks
March 28, 2012
Trayvon Trademarks Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sabrina Fulton, has applied for two U.S. trademark registrations related to her late son’s name: I AM TRAYVON and JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON – for “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring TRAYVON MARTIN; Digital media, namely, pre-recorded DVDs, downloadable audio and video recordings, and CDs featuring and promoting TRAYVON MARTIN; Digital media, namely, pre-recorded video cassettes, digital video discs, digital versatile discs, downloadable audio and video recordings, DVDs, and high definition digital discs featuring TRAYVON MARTIN; Digital media, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring TRAYVON MARTIN; DVD cases; DVD sleeves; DVDs featuring TRAYVON MARTIN.” The applications…
Breaking: Pinterest Updates Copyright Terms
March 24, 2012
Pinterest Updates Copyright Terms Pinterest has responded to the rush of commentary regarding their copyright terms (see my first post on Pinterest’s copyright issues here). They sent out an email this morning updating their users – here is the email in full: Updated Terms of Service Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in…
