Genericide

Of course, the irony is that genericide occurs at the very moment a product manager's dream comes true and the product brand becomes synonymous with the product itself.

A legal determination of genericide is an instantaneous elimination of the associations between mark and product built up in the minds of consumers.

Imagine the glee in Microsoft headquarters if Google lost its trademark protection to genericide. If “google” becomes synonymous with conducting an Internet search, then Microsoft could legally and confusingly advertise by saying: “Use Bing for all of your most complicated googling!”

Because a claim of genericide must relate to a particular type of good or service and because verb use does not necessarily constitute generic use, the district court did not err when it refused to frame its inquiry as whether the relevant public primarily uses the word “google” as a verb.

Escalator, cellophane, and laundromat have all lost their trademark status to genericide.