Hillary has been bashing Obama for being a plagiarist, and she said, "If your candidacy is going to be about words then they should be your own words. . . . Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox."

I'm sure some speech writer came up with that lovely sound bite. The problem is that Hillary is a Yale-educated lawyer who should know better than to use "Xerox," a registered trademark, as a verb, or to use it in any way other than to refer to the company and its products and services. By doing so, she is weakening the trademark, and increases the likelihood that the mark may someday be held to be a generic term that is no longer entitled to trademark protection.

From the Xerox website:
Xerox is a famous trademark and trade name. Xerox as a trademark is properly used only as a brand name to identify the company's products and services. The Xerox trademark should always be used as a proper adjective followed by the generic name of the product: e.g., Xerox printer. The Xerox trademark should never be used as a verb. The trade name Xerox is an abbreviation for the company's full legal name: Xerox Corporation. XEROX is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.

Them and Photoshop.

Oh please, though! The legal dept might not like it but the the marketing dept LOVES it!

No, she isn't. The verb "xerox" has long been used as a synonym for "photocopy" or "duplicate". Hillary is far from the first person to do this. In fact I argue that when used as a verb, "xerox" is not entitled to trademark protection because it is so widely used it is arguably part of the English language at this point.

This plagiarism charge is probably the dumbest most desperate thing I've ever heard a losing candidate throw out there. It just makes no sense. What kind of voter do they imagine will think "Well gee, Obama quoted his own campaign co-chairman with the man's encouragement and blessing, without making the explicit attribution. That's it, that does it for me. I will vote for Hillary instead." ??!

Very true, but can you honestly say that you yourself never refer to adhesive bandages as Band-Aids or facial tissues as Kleenex? All three terms are used interchangeably in society today, registered trademarks notwithstanding. I understand why you're saying this about Hillary though, given that she used the term in a speech about plagiarism. Maybe she needs some new speech writers.

Well, counselor, if Xerox ever sues you for infringement, such as if you launch a photocopier line called Zeroz's, you can make that claim. Many trademarked names have lost protection. Aspirin used to be a trademarked name.
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/arti...trademarks.html


Referring to a noun by the trademark isn't as bad, because there's always the possibility that the person means the real brand, rather than a generic. But using a noun as a verb (in addition to being improper English) is impolite to the trademark holder, as it places their trademark in danger. Likewise, if one were to go into CVS and ask for CVS-brand Kleenex instead of CVS-brand facial tissues, that would be wrong.

Indeed.

Yeah it's times like this I consider going to law school.

There's actually a term for that - eponym. Other examples are Popsicle, FedEx, Kool-Ade, Walkman, Post-it-note, Chapstick, Jacuzzi, Zip-Loc bag, Wite Out, Cellophane, Crock Pot.

Why not?

Oh I've been considering it since I was about eight.

Because maybe she has a soul?

The Yiddish word for refrigerator is "Frigidaire"....

Oh, so that's why my grandfather always called it that!