Generic Marks

A generic mark is a brand name or trademark that has become so well-known that it no longer distinguishes your product from others. Instead of identifying the source, it just describes a general category of goods or services. For example, "aspirin" was once a trademark but now is a generic term for a type of pain reliever. Because generic marks lack the distinctiveness needed for strong trademark protection, companies can't prevent others from using the term once it becomes widely used to describe the product category.