Craig Tractenberg of Fox Rothschild.
Brands are identified by their trademarks. Selecting the right mark, developing it and protecting it becomes essential when the brand is being developed. But trademarks can be lost when the company fails to protect it, or even when the name is so popular that use of the mark cannot be controlled.
Loss of a trademark can mean losses of revenues and sometime even the death of the brand. Imagine that a business built using one name must now convert to using another. Transition to a new name is difficult and brand equity will suffer until rebuilt. The internet has exponentially contributed to brand names becoming generic as the unauthorized use of the marks and the number of people using it can “genericize” the name making it worthless. The brand trademark becomes a generic when it is used as a noun or an adjective people use to describe something unconnected to the owner. A court may revoke trademark protection where use of the brand name is used so common place that it no longer identifies the trademark owner with the exclusive source of the goods or services sold under the mark.
