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Velcro® releases video urging you to stop calling velcro velcro

There's not a word for it in english? In french it's called scratch, because of the sound it makes.

Yeah, the word is velcro. That's just a problem for Velcro because it could cost them their trademark.

(I'm actually a little surprised that more companies don't invent a "common word" in their trademark area to make sure this doesn't happen. No one is ever going to use Hook and Loop Fastener instead of Velcro because it's longer but if they'd called it Hooloo it might have taken off. But I suppose that legal would probably want to trademark the deliberate bait word anyway undoing the entire point. )
 

ironmang

Member
Br1JPrICYAAJjbX.jpg


As this 1990 NOA poster shows it's a very real fear for a company's brand.

My mom still calls it Nintendo. In fact she calls every video game system I've ever owned a Nintendo since that's as much as she cares about this hobby.
 
At first this was so funny I had to wipe away tears with a kleenex. But then it gave me a headache so I took an aspirin. Anyway get some jello and a thermos of coke and enjoy this until you get tired of it and toss it into a dumpster like a frisbee. Xerox.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I enjoyed the mix of censored f-bombs and other brand names.

Video could have been pure cringe but they put the right level of enthusiasm into it. Highlights a real issue, but I'm not sure anyone will care.
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
It must be a delicate line companies want. They want their brand to become ubiquitous, but if it actually does become so, then it hurts them.
 

Mistake

Member
I honestly had no idea it was a copyrighted thing until now. Velcro is very unique and easy to remember, so I'm sticking with it. I say tissue for kleenex, and bandage for band-aid (although I interchange that one.)

Wait....that list is making me crazy. Bubble wrap?!
 

lenovox1

Member
It must be a delicate line companies want. They want their brand to become ubiquitous, but if it actually does become so, then it hurts them.

This particular product was patented for a while, so Velcro is the name whether they like it or not. That's what happens when you patent something everyone uses.
 
Then they'd have to trademark it. Hook and loop is the industry name.
No they don't. The trademark registration process is entirely voluntary. The legal department could see that getting people to adopt "hook and loop" is unlikely and ask someone (marketing, industry association, etc...) to come up with a catchier public facing name for the technology and put it out there unprotected.

I honestly had no idea it was a copyrighted thing until now.
Trademark, not copyright. Trademark identifies a products from a particular organization. It lasts as long as it is relevant (and not genericized.) Copyright protects a particular expression. It lasts (generally) the author's life plus 70 years.
 

lenovox1

Member
No they don't. The trademark registration process is entirely voluntary. The legal department could see that getting people to adopt "hook and loop" is unlikely and ask someone (marketing, industry association, etc...) to come up with a catchier public facing name for the technology and put it out there unprotected.

The issue for Velcro brand is that they are the industry and they apparently still hold 200 patents for their fastening products.

If Velcro® is the name anyone ever uses because it is all that essentially exists, then... Even the makers of Kleenex can point to all the other tissue brands that are on the market.
 
I knew Velcro was a brand name but I had no idea that this fuzzy strip that sticks to this strip of tiny hooks wasn't all Velcro. How do I know if it's Velcro or some off brand copy?
 

mhayes86

Member
Sorry, Velcro. You should have created a garbage brand name and not have been the lead manufacturer of Velcro. Just like how all consoles are Nintendo, all bandages are Band-Aids, and tissues are Kleenex.
 

Mistake

Member
Trademark, not copyright. Trademark identifies a products from a particular organization. It lasts as long as it is relevant (and not genericized.) Copyright protects a particular expression. It lasts (generally) the author's life plus 70 years.
I got it, thanks. The R is what confused me I guess. Stupid question, but whey don't they use T for trademark? R is just...reserved right? On topic, it's just another common thing I didn't take the time to think about
 
I got it, thanks. The R is what confused me I guess. Stupid question, but whey don't they use T for trademark? R is just...reserved right? On topic, it's just another common thing I didn't take the time to think about

TM is for Trademark, R is for Registered Trademark.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
The worst part of this video is that my bosses are going to see it and ask me to make something like it for our company... with no budget what so ever *cries*
 
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.
You generically called pain medication "aspirin."

Wikipedia said:
In 1897, scientists at Bayer began studying acetylsalicylic acid as a less-irritating replacement for common salicylate medicines. By 1899, Bayer had named the drug Aspirin and was selling it around the world. The word Aspirin was Bayer's brand name; however, their rights to the trademark were lost or sold in many countries.
 

Poona

Member
It reminds me of how I always used to think it strange how when I watched certain American shows or movies (I'm from Australia), they would call tissues 'Kleenex'.

Like 'Kleenex' is the brand. It was like calling all chocolate 'cadbury' or 'hersheys' or all cereal 'kelloggs' or something. I would always feel sad for those other companies that made tissues and weren't Kleenex.
 

99Luffy

Banned
Hook and loop sounds more like instructions than a name. Google tells me they can also be called touch fasteners. They couldnt have gone with that?
 
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