What is Commonym?
1.
A trademarked term used to identify all products of the same type, such as the word "Kleenex" used to describe any facial tissue, or "Vaseline" as a term for a competing petroleum jelly. Other commonyms include, Band-Aid, ChapStick, Popsicle, and Q-tip.
Some former trademarks have become generic terms after a long life as commonyms, such as aspirin (formerly trademarked by Bayer) and escalator (a former trademark of the Otis Elevator Company.)
If Apple doesn't protect it's trademark, iPod will become a commonym for an MP3 player.
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