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Simple English definitions for legal terms
genericism
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A quick definition of genericism:
Term: GENERICISM
Definition: Genericism means being generic. It is a state or condition of being common or not unique. For example, if a product is so common that people use its name to refer to all similar products, it has become a victim of genericism. This can happen to trademarks, where the brand name becomes so popular that people use it to refer to all similar products, regardless of the brand.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: Genericism (jə-nər-ə-siz-əm) is the state or condition of being generic.
Example: In a trademark lawsuit, a company may use an affirmative defense of genericism to argue that their product name has become a common term used to describe a type of product, and therefore cannot be exclusively owned by one company.
Explanation: The example illustrates how a company can use the defense of genericism to argue that their product name has become a common term used to describe a type of product. This means that the name has lost its distinctiveness and cannot be exclusively owned by one company.