These are the rules that apply to many for-profit, and even non-profit organizations. The name of the game is name recognition, with an underlying economic motivation of economic gain. Consumers recognize the symbol, attribute it to a single source, draw upon prior experiences with products/services bearing that symbol, purchase the product, and enjoy. Rinse and repeat a thousand times (or hopefully many more) and you get goodwill. The owner hopes that it will have exclusive ownership over the symbol so that consumers won’t choose a competitive product thinking it to be from the owner. Economics therefore plays a role at two levels. On the purchasing side, it embodies the intangible associations between the name and the source. On the sale side, it represents the desire to prevent others from creating the same association using a similar symbol.
Being a blog whose namesake is “antigeneric”, I reserve the right to rail against the generic. Generic trademarks are the bane of a trademark attorney’s existence. A generic mark leaves lawyers with nothing to do: nothing to register, nothing to enforce, nothing for clients to use to create good will and compound on it to create value in their brands. For the client, a generic trademark represents a huge missed opportunity to reach customers and create an aura around a product or service; it may even be a detriment to a client if a re-branding campaign is required. Moreover, rebranding can be expensive and provide pause even to the most gung-ho marketing team. After all, who wants the stress and financial headache of starting from square one?
These are the rules that apply to many for-profit, and even non-profit organizations. The name of the game is name recognition, with an underlying economic motivation of economic gain. Consumers recognize the symbol, attribute it to a single source, draw upon prior experiences with products/services bearing that symbol, purchase the product, and enjoy. Rinse and repeat a thousand times (or hopefully many more) and you get goodwill. The owner hopes that it will have exclusive ownership over the symbol so that consumers won’t choose a competitive product thinking it to be from the owner. Economics therefore plays a role at two levels. On the purchasing side, it embodies the intangible associations between the name and the source. On the sale side, it represents the desire to prevent others from creating the same association using a similar symbol. |
What is generic?A generic trademark or brand is a mark that has become synonymous with the name of a product or service, usually without the trademark owners' intent. As a trademark owner, you want to avoid allowing your brand to become generic. Avoid it like the black plague. Mr. Anti-Generic HimselfThe brains behind this online operation and namespace for, er, cool name ideas is Justin Clark. He is an attorney at the J. Clark Law Firm and plays a mad drum solo from time to time. Archives
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THIS SITE IS ONLY A BLOG AND IS NOT MEANT TO CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE. IT IS ALSO PARTIALLY AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES BY ME, JUSTIN CLARK, ESQ. BUT I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER AND YOU ARE NOT MY CLIENT. ALSO, THE PHRASE "MR. ANTI-GENERIC" IS MEANT TO MEAN INTELLECTUAL ENTHUSIAST AND IS NOT MEANT TO SUGGEST THAT I HAVE CERTIFIED OR OTHER EXPERTISE IN ANY PARTICULAR FIELD OF LEGAL PRACTICE. |