Going Generic: A Linguistics Approach to Genericide in Trademark Law

This Article examines the phenomenon of trademark genericide—the process by which once-protected brand names like “escalator” and “trampoline” lose their legal status by becoming synonymous with entire product categories. Traditional methods used by courts to assess genericide, such as consumer surveys and dictionary definitions, are often criticized for their subjectivity and lack of scientific rigor. In response, this Article introduces corpus linguistics as a more reliable, data-driven alternative for determining whether a trademark has become generic. By analyzing real-world language usage through large corpora, corpus linguistics can track the public’s shifting perceptions of a trademark over time.

Using case studies of “escalator” and “trampoline,” the Article demonstrates how frequency analysis and semantic broadening provide clearer insights into when a trademark transitions from a brand identifier to a generic term. The findings offer practical guidance for companies, urging them to be proactive in protecting their trademarks by understanding linguistic trends and avoiding common pitfalls that lead to genericide. The Article argues that incorporating corpus linguistics into trademark law can provide courts with a more precise and empirical method for assessing genericide, ultimately improving the protection of intellectual property in a rapidly evolving linguistic landscape.