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Velcro® releases video urging you to stop calling velcro velcro

ag-my001

Member
I mean, on one hand, yeah, I can see where they're coming from.

On the other, it'll be an uphill battle. People have been calling hook and loop 'Velcro' for longer than uh, some of us have been alive.

It's literally all I've ever known it to be called, actually.

Sucks that they'll have to change their name or get sued into oblivion by trademark trolls.



Er...yeah there is. One part has a bunch of tiny hooks, and those hooks capture into the loops on the other side. That's the crackling sound when you pull it apart, the loops snapping back.
They won't have to change their name, it just means all the other companies can call their own stuff Velcro and not get sued themselves.

Compare it to the pain relief aisle. There are fifteen brands of aspirin, but only one brand called Tylenol. Everyone else makes acetaminophen.
 

Dyle

Member
Cool video, but I don't see why I should care that a company was too successful at branding that they risk losing their trademark, seems like their problem
 
Hook and loop doesn't make any sense. There is no hook or loop.

This is called hook and loop! This one's a hook and this one's a loop!

tMP0N8j.jpg
 
For real though, you'll have to come up with a better generic name to get people to use it instead of "Velcro". "Hook & loop" is never going to catch on lol.
 

Thaedolus

Member
You know what, for the amount of effort that took and just to fuck with people, I'm gonna abide by their guidelines.
 

Xe4

Banned
Nah. I'm gonna continue to call that shit velcro, even if it's not by Velcro. It's up to the other companies not on infringe on trademark, and on Velcro to protect it. None of it is on me. Ya'll victims of your own success, I don't feel so bad.

Surprisingly good video though.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
that was pretty good, but really they're about 30 years too late with this
 

NekoFever

Member
Jet Ski has to be one that's close to becoming genericised. It's a Kawasaki trademark but I've literally never heard those vehicles referred to as anything other than jet skis.
 

Balphon

Member
Wasn't aware they could lose a trademark by it being used generally like that.

It's generally one of the primary grounds for cancellation of a trademark. E.g., in the US:

Lanham Act sec. 14 (15 USC § 1064(c)) said:
A petition to cancel a registration of a mark, stating the grounds relied upon, may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, be filed as follows: . . . at any time if the registered mark becomes the generic name for the goods or services, or a portion thereof, for which it is registered. . .

A trademark is essentially protected as a proxy for a business's reputation. If the public no longer associates the trademarked thing with the business, the business has no right to it.
 

Alfredo

Member
Jet Ski has to be one that's close to becoming genericised. It's a Kawasaki trademark but I've literally never heard those vehicles referred to as anything other than jet skis.

I started to call them "personal watercraft" after learning that Jet Ski is a brand.
 
I started to call them "personal watercraft" after learning that Jet Ski is a brand.

I'm actually a little surprised that Jet Ski and Rollerblade were ever granted in the first place given that they are effectively combinations of common words that serve as a descriptor of the product. I can at least feel some degree of sympathy for Velcro but I just want to point and laugh at those two.
 

louiedog

Member
I was helping someone repair something that the velcro came off of recently by using some old scrap. I asked them to hand me a piece and they gave me the wrong side so I asked for the other one. They got confused and so I had to explain that each side of velcro is different and that's how they grab each other. I used the term "hook and loop" during this and they thought I was making it up.
 

Kurdel

Banned
Wow, that was the best corporate branding music video I have ever seen!

Looks like something out of Rick and Morty
 

Woffls

Member
The last thing I expected was to finish watching that video and think "you know what, Velcro, I might just do that".
 

Addi

Member
There's not a word for it in english? In french it's called scratch, because of the sound it makes.
 
In what kind of world do those people mad at this in the comment section live in?

I think some have started to forget how to consume media or just plain got to wrong idea to begin with by getting their world news out of comedians and YouTubers, so in their eyes this is as serious a public announcement as they get.
 
Game Boy had this too. He's playing his Nintendo and Game Boy even if it was an advance etc. For a while Xbox 360 had this same thing. People kept saying everyone playing their Xboxes.

don't they still do that for xbox? i definitely don't say xbox one in conversation
 
The brits call it a bleedystopper, not to be confused with women's sanitary pads

I can't tell if you're being serious.

That said, a poor attempt at a viral video isn't going to stop anyone from calling non-Velcro things as Velcro. But then again, consumers are under zero obligation to give an crap anyhow. Its not our job to protect their trademark. Maybe they can actually do something against retailers who use the wrong terminology, policing that would be a bitch though.
 
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