Genericized Trademarks

[archibel]

I'm tempted to purchase a short single word domain for £xx,xxx which 99% of the population would consider to be a generic term. (The word is actually a trademark owned by Kawasaki.)

As far as I can tell, in the US such 'genericized' trademarks formally lose their legal protection after a period of time e.g. Escalator, Heroin, Yo-Yo.

But in the UK, I don't think this status exists - however, a quick google search on the term 'hoover' shows that Dyson is using the term in its Adwords campaign...so maybe there is no problem.

I appreciate this is probably one for the lawyers to sort out - but I'd be interested to hear your views.

 

[doodlebug]

Hoover is definitley a TM, it's not generic, I can't think what you call it but Hoover is just what people got use to calling a vacuum cleaner and is actually the manufactures TM, it's not a specific word and companies are always bidding on each others name and using them in their ads.

But if the word you want is in the dictionary then usually you are ok with it but at £xx,xxx absolutely get legal advice.

Good luck

 

[accelerator]

If Kawasaki invented the product, took out a UK trademark, and then it came into popular parlance, I doubt you would be able to use the domain to promote such a product without Kawasaki having a strong legal case against you.

Trademarks can be quite powerful when it comes to domains.

Rgds