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by alberth 648 days ago
There’s lots of colloquially used names by the general public that technically infringe trademark.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_generici...

“Aspirin”, “elevators”, “laundromat” are just a few examples.

Even “App Store” was trademarked (by Apple).

5 comments

The general public can't infringe a trademark unless they're selling a competing product ;) Interestingly, Aspirin becoming a generic term in many countries was more of a result of WW1 as the allied powers seized various things from German companies (like Bayer) for war reparations, including intellectual property like trademarks. It was technically purchased by an American company for use in the US after the war, but I guess they didn't defend the mark very well and it quickly fell into genericism.
Genericization is by definition not infringement.
I had no idea Heroin was originally a trademarked cough suppressant.
As you might expect, it's an exceptionally effective cough suppressant.
I think in the case of app store, that's suitably generic that someone with money could easily fight it.
Well done stuff probably is not enforceable, like App Store. That is too generic
I'm not sure - trademark law is tricky - "The Container Store" is trademarked (and while you might say "App Store" is too generic, but I don't recall the term existing prior to "The App Store", so this might be a "Hoover" or similar situation).

I remember McDonald's used[?] to have "All Beef" as a trademark for their burger patties (I also recall them getting in trouble in NZ as just because they're "All Beef" brand doesn't mean you can advertise them as "All Beef Patties" in a way that is clearly intended to imply they're "all beef")

App Store is not the same case as Hoover because the name is a literal description of what it is. It’s like a coffee producer trademarking the name Coffee.
Like Apple suing over trademark to an apple fruit producer.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-vs-apples-trademark-battle...