A successful branding strategy helps customers uniquely identify a brand and increases their trust in it. It also conveys a brand’s promises and its services to the people. Trademarks play a distinctive role in branding as they make a brand stand out in a crowd of competitors. However, there is a term called genericization, which affects the brand’s identity and turns a trademark into a generic term referring to the entire range of products. For example, the term “Maggie” was a trademark that refers to a specific brand, and now it is genericized as any instant noodles could be called Maggie. Let us look at the risks of using generic trademarks in branding strategies for a business.
What is Genericization?
If a brand becomes popular in producing a specific product, it is profitable and leads to business development. However, if a trademark of a certain brand becomes too common among people, it can be genericized, and it can be used to refer to the same products of any brand. Also, the significance of the trademark is also affected. For example, “Band-Aid” was a trademark of a brand but nowadays, it is used to refer to any adhesive bandage.
The trademarks that are genericized can no longer be registered. This affects a brand significantly and may also result in the usage of the trademark by its competitors also. How to prevent this? We can protect a trademark from getting genericized using the following steps.
How to Brand Your Trademark without Getting Genericized?
While branding or referring to your brand, you should be careful with the following points.
- Avoid using your trademark as a noun to refer to a product. For example, don’t use “Lays” alone instead, say Lays chips or Lays potato chips. This way, your trademark will be an adjective for a product, which makes it better identify as a brand.
- Avoid branding your trademarks in plural forms. For example, don’t say, Dairy Milk, instead say Dairy Milk Chocolates.
- One of the main causes of genericization is using the trademark as a verb. For example, Googling, Xeroxing, etc.
- Make sure to use the appropriate trademark symbols TM or R next to your trademarks to make them identified as trademarks of your brand.
The value of a brand lies in the usage of the trademarks in appropriate ways. Businesses have to carefully watch the usage of their trademarks to prevent them from getting genericized and from losing their value.
Take Brealant help with your trademark registration!
Since trademarks are the essential assets of a business or a brand, protecting them in the right way is too important. If you want guidance in registering trademarks, copyrights, or patents with the USPTO, Brealant is here to help you! With Brealant, you can get assistance in every step of your trademark registration and our attorneys will solve all your queries related to the registration processes. Contact Brealant today for keeping your valuable assets protected!