[Air-l] "listserve"

[Dominic Pinto]

--- Ellis Godard <egodard at csun.edu> wrote:

> Thanks to Alex, Paul, Dominic, and Terry for the
> posts which were
> interesting, but seemed to miss the point: I'm aware
> of ListServ and its
> history, but am interested in when and how the brand
> name was appropriated
> as a common noun. (Think Levi's, Band-Aid, Kleenex,
> Kodak, Coke, and Tivo.
> There's a word for this I learned in 7th grade, but
> can't remember - and
> neither can my 7th grade teacher, whom I re-ask
> every few years just in
> case. Whatever it is, it's an important word. Maybe
> I should sniglet a new
> one.)
> 

Perhaps it should have been clearer, but the history
suggests that listserve seems to have been a _generic_
that was appropriated as a brand and registered name,
rather than the reverse.

Perhaps Volkswagen is an example of a generic being
appropriated in a similar way - and maybe Smirnoff for
vodka; Churchill for cigar (or tank). There must be
others that assiduous googling would uncover. Oh, and
wasn't aspirin originally a Bayer (fka I.G. Farben AG)
brand name? And nylon (and others) a brand name of ICI
(or Mond, its predecessor company)?

Think then of others?

See also some related references:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3006486.stm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401536.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_%28verb%29
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v04/0419.html


It's generally as you highlight the other way around -
the brand name becoming synonymous with all similar
products.

In the UK to hoover was in such popular usage that it
became the generic name for vacuum cleaning and
cleaners; PA systems generally called Tannoy; colas of
all sorts - coke (but assiduously policed and pursued
by Coca Cola licensee representatives and legal hot
shots).

Other examples are fridge (Frigidaire); Google (as in
web search); Scotch Tape or in the UK Sellotape;
Elastoplast (in the U.S. BandAid); Post-Its; zippers,
thermos, escalator, elevator, 

Some may be examples of rather blatant 'passing off',
others a failure to protect/enforce intellectual
property rights effectively lost any proprietary
rights.

An example of a generic term being (in)appropriated as
a trade name/mark is Linux
http://www.tuxdeluxe.org/node/107

And of course the humble apple was appropriated by 2
different corporations!

All the best

Dominic




Dominic Pinto
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