A trademark provides the exclusive rights to the brand to use it only to refer to their products. Trademarks are valuable assets for a business that help people uniquely recognize a brand and its products and services. A trademark name should be distinctive in order to avoid confusion with the other brands producing similar goods. Nowadays, some brands are losing their trademark value because of genericization. Despite referring to a specific brand’s products alone, some trademarks are now being used to refer to similar products of other brands. Let us learn more about generic trademarks and what are the best practices to follow to avoid genericization.

Well-known Trademarks that are Genericized over the years

Once a trademark has become generic, it will not be registered anymore and the trademark owner loses his exclusive rights over the trademark. Let us look at some of the well-known trademarks that are genericized over the years.

The term “Escalator” is a trademark of Otis Elevator Company (a brand producing moving staircases) till 1950. Nowadays, it has become a common term to refer to moving staircases of any brand.

The word “Sellotape” is a trademark for a brand that produces cellulose-based adhesive tapes in the UK. Since this term is widely used in many countries, it has become genericized and now refers to adhesive tapes from any brand.

Likewise, the popularly used term “Aspirin” was also a trademark name for acetylsalicylic acid. However, now it is used as a generic term in the US.

Similarly, there are many trademarks such as ChapStick, Maggie, Xerox, Coke, Frisbee, Google, etc., that are now being genericized and are used as common terms instead of trademarks that refer to a specific brand.

Is there any way to prevent genericization? Read on to learn about how to prevent genericization.

Best Practices to Prevent Genericization

There are some of the best practices you can follow to avoid genericization. They are:

  1. Never use your trademark as a verb. For example, the terms “Xerox” and “Google” are trademarks, so don’t say “Xeroxing” or “Googling”. Using a trademark as a verb will turn into a generic term faster.
  2. Never use your trademark names as nouns, especially in plural forms. For example, say “Oreo cookies” and not “Oreos”, and say “Lays chips” and not “Lays”.
  3. Always use your trademark as registered and use the appropriate trademark symbol along with it.
  4. Never use a trademark in the possessive unless it is registered like that like McDonald’s.
  5. Use distinctive names for your trademarks, so that people will easily identify it as a brand rather than a common term referring to products of all brands.

Seeking help for Intellectual Property protection? Contact us right now!

We all know the worth of our intellectual properties and they need to be protected to preserve their value forever. If you are someone looking for guidance in trademark registration processes, contact Brealant! Our attorneys will solve all your queries related to Intellectual Property protection and assist you throughout the process of registration.

Rapper 6ix9ine is currently dealing with additional legal issues, this time over accusations that his name violates the trademark rights of another artist who has been using the name “SIX9” since 2007. The rapper 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was accused of “stifling and injuring” the career of a South Carolina man named Warren Hamilton by using a name identical to his in 2017. The lawsuit was submitted to a federal court in Manhattan.

Hamilton argues in his lawsuit that Hernandez started using the short version as part of an effort to reinvent himself following his widely reported 2015 conviction on a felony count of exploiting a kid in a sexual performance. Nevertheless, Hernandez’s stage name was now the same as Hamilton’s, which caused a lot of confusion. That Hernandez’s career exacerbated this confusion began to take off after launching the 2017 song “Gummo.”

According to Hamilton, he has been performing under the name SIX9 since 2007, sharing the stage with well-known performers like Lil Wayne and playing at venues throughout the country. He claims that most recently, in January, he has put out many albums and singles under the name.

What is the history behind the controversy?

Performing in venues across the nation and with well-known musicians like Lil Wayne, Hamilton asserts that he has been going by the stage name SIX9 since 2007. He claims that under the name, he has published many albums and singles, most recently in January.

Tekashi69, a nod to a Japanese anime, was a name that 6ix9ine once went by. However, he started adopting the shorter, stylized 6ix9ine over time.

Additionally, many hip-hop and rap fans went to Hamilton’s live performances under the impression that Hernandez was going to be the sarkari naukri, and many music promoters and booking agencies refused to schedule live performances of the show.

How does the infringement affect consumers?

The average consumer doesn’t know from the announcement of the artist’s name whether that song will be by Hernandez or Hamilton since each mark has the exact meaning and pronunciation. This is especially true if a DJ on the radio, a playlist, or a podcast says that this is a song by SIX9 or 6ix9ine.

Conclusion

This is not the rapper’s first involvement in a legal situation. Apart from his 2015 conviction for child sex acts, the rapper also admitted guilt in 2019 to counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and possession of a firearm in connection with a slew of shootings and other crimes in New York City. In April of this year, 6ix9ine was accused of breaching a contract with the streaming music service Streamusic, leading to the lawsuit. The corporation allegedly paid him $150,000 to perform and promote two performances, but nothing happened. A $2 million lawsuit against 6ix9ine was filed earlier this year. Following the reported non-attendance of two Los Angeles concerts planned for 2021. A lawsuit he had filed after being accused of stealing a piece of work for his song “Guba” was settled just one month earlier.