Trademark erosion
Encyclopedia
Trademark erosion is a special case of antonomasia
related to trademark
s. It happens when a trademark becomes so common that it starts being used as a common name (an appellative) and the original company failed to prevent its use. Once it had become an appelative the word cannot be registered anymore — that is why companies are trying hard not to let their trademark become too common, a phenomenon that could otherwise be considered a successful move since it would mean that the company gained an exceptional recognition.
Vaseline
(out of the USA), Hoover (The Hoover Company
) or Nintendo
(which managed to replace excessive use of its name by the then-neologism game console) are examples of "failed" or "successful" trademark erosion.
Antonomasia
In rhetoric, antonomasia is a substitution of any epithet or phrase for a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I. The reverse process is also sometimes called antonomasia. The word derives from the Greek verb , meaning "to name differently"...
related to trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s. It happens when a trademark becomes so common that it starts being used as a common name (an appellative) and the original company failed to prevent its use. Once it had become an appelative the word cannot be registered anymore — that is why companies are trying hard not to let their trademark become too common, a phenomenon that could otherwise be considered a successful move since it would mean that the company gained an exceptional recognition.
Vaseline
Vaseline
Vaseline is a brand of petroleum jelly based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, deodorants and personal lubricants....
(out of the USA), Hoover (The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
) or Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
(which managed to replace excessive use of its name by the then-neologism game console) are examples of "failed" or "successful" trademark erosion.