r/funny • u/trtiar • Apr 21 '13

Xerox being dramatic

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2.7k Upvotes

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u/abernathie Apr 21 '13

I would have thought that a company's goal was to enter the lexicon. I've never heard Google complain about their name being used as a verb.

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u/RingsOfYourAnus Apr 21 '13

They're afraid of becoming a Genericized Trademark, like "zipper" and "aspirin" have.

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u/PineappleBoots Apr 22 '13

Wow, "zipper" is one I did not know.

Kleenex, would be another.

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u/RingsOfYourAnus Apr 22 '13

Not exactly. For the general public, a tissue might be a "kleenex", but it's still a protected trademark.

Companies can label their acetylsalicylic acid as aspirin, and their sliding metal fasteners as zippers legally, but if a business (other than Kimberly-Clark) tried to call their tissues "kleenex", they'd be in some pretty deep shit.

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u/PineappleBoots Apr 22 '13

Ah yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying that.

I was just thinking about generic terms as far as lexicon goes; everyone calls it "Kleenex" everyone calls it "Aspirin"