Conference thebay::joyoflex

Heroin

... but this one has faded.

  Another from Dupont, I believe. But this one may now indeed be legally
  generic.

    Sellotape (seems to be more widely used name than Scotch tape in
    England).
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

  It's not spelled "Cellotape"?

    re -.2 I always thought it was Cellotape, following the same root as
    cellophane, but it's not.
    
    re -.1 Also Perspex.
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

  Anyone know whether raisin bran, corn flakes, or shredded wheat were
  ever proprietary marks?

    and Frigidaire (in Britain).
    
    						Ann B.

    Zipper.
    
    --bonnie

  Wow, that's right. Who owned (owns) the mark? Talon?

At least is was used that way when I was a kid.  (It being the word, not
the device.)

Dave C.

				J&J

    Ping Pong
    
    Re .whichever
    Yes, I think that Shredded Wheat was and/or still is a trademark
    in some countries.  Not too sure about the others though.
    
    In the Philippines, toothpaste is often called Colgate.  When
    other companies started selling toothpaste there, people would
    say things like "Do you have a Colgate called Crest?"
    
    In Brazil, you could hear things like "Please turn on the Canada"
    referring to electricity, because of the contribution from Brascan
    (before it turned into a forced contribution).
    
    How about the reverse process, for example Digital, Interactive,
    Sun (two of them), etc.  Was coke not really a generic term for
    one of the ingredients in Coca-Cola's original formula before they
    trademarked the word?

Actually, "Aspirin" is still a strong trademark in many countries.  In the 
same vein "Tylenol" is probably still a good mark,  but it tends to be used as 
a generic, at least in the U.S.

>    In the Philippines, toothpaste is often called Colgate.  When
>    other companies started selling toothpaste there, people would
>    say things like "Do you have a Colgate called Crest?"

A colleague who travels a lot told me that he asked, in a restaurant on 
Mexico, "Do you have apple pie?"

The waiter responded, "Oh yes, we have blueberry applepie, cherry applepie,
. . ."


Clay

Coke is a compound involved in steel processing, but as a generic word
for carbonated cola drinks, it's a shortened form of Coca Cola. The
ingredient you mentioned is coca extract which is made from the coca
plant, and contains cocaine. Naturally, this hasn't been used in Coke
for quite a while. I'm not aware of the use of "coke" to refer to this
ingredient, and if it does, I don't think it predates the trademark.

re .-1

Back in the 50's and south of the Mason-Dixon line, the preferred slang term
for Coca Cola wasn't "Coke"; it was "Dope". 

Larry

    Elevator, nylon, and cellophane have all lost their proprietary status.
    
    It's possible that names like Xerox and Teflon can become generic, but
    it is unlikely.  As long as the owners always write them with the
    registered trademark symbol and complain properly when they learn of
    misuse, they will retain exclusive use.
    
    Bernie

Chapstick

Just curious: who owned "Cellophane"?

Was "Sanka" *ever* in danger of becoming a generic term, to the point
that all those TV commercials were made which talked about "Sanka brand
decaffeinated coffee"? I always felt they would have *liked* to have
that problem, but never really did.

Polaroid. 

-1 (about the coffee) seems a common thing -- trying to think
of slogans that will eventually blur the subject/object distinction.
Like 'Coke is it', or even (the other way round) 'It's a SONY'.

Richard.

    Re: .28
    
    I think DuPont owned both 'cellophane' and 'nylon'.  Otis owned
    'elevator'.
    
    Bernie
    

    Way back when (late 19th c. I think), `tablet' was legally defined to
    be a `special word' - not as strong as a trade mark but protected in
    some way that I'm sure lwayers understand. The company that pressed it 
    into use for a compacted, measured quantity of dry medication was
    Burroughs & Wellcome [sp?]. The use of `tabloid' to refer to a small-
    format newspaper derives from this: originally a `tabloid' newspaper
    was one that gave a compacted, measured amount of news. 

    Hoover and Thermos, more in Britain I think - and I wouldn't be
    surprised if those companies' lawyers disagreed about the words
    being generic. Maybe Thermos managed to wean people off saying
    `they went for a pic-nic with coffee in the thermos', but `hoover'
    has found its way into the language as a _verb_ (meaning `clean
    with a vacuum cleaner').  I rarely, this side of the Atlantic 
    (except in commercials for other brands, and in U.S. T.V. imports) 
    hear people use the word `to vacuum'.
    
    b

    
    What do you expect on the Monday after the weekend before an
    election?

    Heard on the BBC's `Today' programme this morning.

Hmmm, now that you mention it:

Port-a-crib
Port-a-potty

    Another one that is seldom heard any more, but was common when I was
    growing up. 
    
    Joe

	Biro - the first ballpoint pen.

	In Russian,  the word for "pencil" is a transliteration of the name
	of a French pencil manufacturer, Caran d'Ache (not at all sure of
	the spelling) and the word for "railway station" (or "train
	station" if you're not a true Brit) is a transliteration of
	Vauxhall, a London station.
	
	Delia

    Re .40: Caran d'Ache is the name of a French pencil manufacturer, but
    originally it was the pseudonym of a French caricaturist of the early
    19th century, and I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard the story
    that he took that nickname from the Russian word for pencil after
    having spent several years in Russia. Does anybody know which of these
    derivations is the correct one?
    			Denis.

re: "Hoover"

I guess we can be grateful that the "Hoover" vacuum cleaner was more 
successful than the "VAX".  Not only would it create some interesting problems 
for Digital, but also for people whose native language doesn't have the "wuh" 
sound.  "Vax the floor" would be ambiguous.  

Clay

Re karandash/caran d'ache, I'm inclined to agree with Denis that the
Russian word predated the French usage. The sound of the word gives the
impression that it's originally derived from Arabic or Persian, which,
if true, would be typical of many Russian words.

Now the French word for pencil is "crayon". I had once thought that
"Crayon" was a trade mark of Crayola, but I suppose not.

    You will see "crayola" used as a generic term for "crayon,"
    especially in ads aimed at preschool teachers shopping for
    supplies.  Much to the mortification of the Crayola company, I'm
    sure.
    
    Re: karandash etc.
    
    Many French words derive directly from the Arabic or Persian (via
    the Crusades and the neighboring Moors), so simulteneous 
    development is a possibility -- the Arabic or Persian word
    borrowed directly into both French and Persian at the same time,
    then modified according to each language's rules.
    
    --bonnie

    When I first heard this word pronounced by a French colleague, I
    didn't understand the word nor what he was talking about (the
    conversation was in French). When I asked him to spell it, all became
    clear:
    
    	"Lockheed", for brake fluid in French (pronounced something
    		    like 'lou-keyed').
    
    Steve
    

    Re .42
>I guess we can be grateful that the "Hoover" vacuum cleaner was more 
>successful than the "VAX".  Not only would it create some interesting problems 
>for Digital,
    
    Huh?  If "Vax" were sufficiently famous, or if it were famous in
    the U.S.A., then it might have AVOIDED problems, because perhaps
    Digital would have been less inclined to use the name.  The current
    teasing (though I can't imagine any serious confusion) would have
    been avoided.

    Israeli name for ALL instant coffee (circa 1970).

Ah, yes, that reminds me: Nescafe is the generic word for "American
coffee" in Turkey (I think -- or maybe it was Greece). Must have been
US armed forces standard issue.

    	There's the Phillips screwdriver, and the Stanley knife 
    	(my Phillips is made by Stanley - I'm confused).
    

    Ada.  But this trademark was deliberately allowed to lapse.
    Of course, even while trademarked it had generics.

    	A classic case was the manufacturer of Mole wrenches who managed to
    persuade the British Post Office to use a postmark "Swansea, home of
    the mole wrench" without them realising that they were doing unpaid
    advertising.

Another piece of hardware is the Crescent (now crescent) wrench.

And there's the electrical engineer Jack Dolby, whose name has not only been 
genericized, but also verbized and adjectivated.

Clay

    FYI the Royal Mail tried to put things to rights by changing its post-
    mark to `Swansea, home of the self-adjusting spanner', but the damage
    was done. I've never _heard_ anyone (without a knowing reference
    to the post-mark) use the expression `self-adjusting spanner'.

I've never heard of a Mole wrench, but then, none of my moles are loose.

>
>I've never heard of a Mole wrench, but then, none of my moles are loose.

Otherwise known as Mole grips, or on this side of the Atlantic ...

vice wrench

    Actually, here on the US side of the pond, we, too, use a "genericized"
    name for this tool:  Vice grips.
    
    					andrew

    I thought that Vice Grips were velvet handcuffs.
    
    	Jon

	Magic Marker is apparently becoming an anachronism.

	My wife and I were caught short the other evening when one
	of the kids asked why we always called it a "Magic" marker.
	It sort of makes me feel like one of those fogeys who still 
	say "victrola" and "fridgidaire".  
						--djc--

Arggh!  It's v-i-S-e grips, not v-i-C-e, isn't it?

Vice grips are the people on the set of X-rated movies who move the bed
around between scenes.

Dave C.

>Arggh!  It's v-i-S-e grips, not v-i-C-e, isn't it?


OK OK   ... Fair cop ... but how many spellos do you see me make normally ...
especially those that are not attributable to fingers running slower than
brain .... my fingers suffer from dsylexia KO ?

Stuart

    Yikes!  That was *supposed* to be "vise", not "vice!"
    
    That's not a spello, it's a thinko!
    
    					andrew

I believe "vice" is the British spelling of "vise."

    I always thought it was "vice" in the US and "vise" in GB...
    
    The maintenance crew at ZKO has a push-around workbench that has a
    vice mounted on one end and several shelves for pipes, wrenches,
    etc. underneath.  Several years ago we were in the middle of a
    management crisis involving a pair of products that were
    identified by the code names VICE and NOVICE.  
    
    One afternoon as we were leaving work, we were treated to the
    sight of this workbench sporting two labels on yellow post-its: 
    VICE beneath the vice and NOVICE on the empty corner.
    
    The perpetrator is now, I believe, a documentation manager.
    
    --bonnie

    re .59 &c. (vice/vise):
    
    That's why I put in my .57 about velvet handcuffs.
    
    	Jon

    I didn't see "kleenex".  (Did I?)
    
    					Don

    In the course of having my kitchen renovated, I learned about the
    following two terms that I didn't realize were trademarks:
    
    	garbage disposal
    	sheetrock
    
    A trendy piece of recreational equipment that is a trademark is:
    
    	roller blades
    
Lew Lasher

    
    I like the roller blade (TM) ads that say  "They didn't 
    ask for inline skates..."
    
    I used to think that I owned a Windsurfer (TM) until I found out
    that I owned a generic sailboard.
    
    Adam

    The trademark is on "Rollerblade" (one word), I think.  At least,
    that's how it looks on the side of my in-line skates.  But, if you
    advertise "roller blades", they'll send their ambulance chasers after
    you.
    
    
    regards...
    ...diane

    .68> two terms that I didn't realize were trademarks:
    
       >	garbage disposal
    
    I believe the trademark is "Disposall" (pronounced "dispose all", natch)
    but not sure of the manufacturer.  I'd guess GE.  Obviously, you can
    dispose of your garbage in many different ways, and call each of them
    garbage disposal, but the pig-in-the-sink is the thing that has the
    patent.
    
    Leslie