Velcro Gets Creative in Protecting Its Brand from Generic Use - Trademark - United States (2024)

On August 28, I posted about a case involving the question whether"google" is a generic term for providing a searchengine.

Now the good folks at Velcro Companies are fighting the samebattle, but they're trying to attack the problem withoutlitigation about whether the name of their product is generic– or possibly to provide ammunition in the event oflitigation.

Yes, VELCRO is a brand, and a registered trademark. Infact, there are 23 active U.S. registrations for trademarksincluding the term "Velcro." The oldest of thosewas issued in 1958 and covered goods described as a"notion-namely, a synthetic material sold in ribbon, sheet, orpiece goods form, said material having complemental parts whichadhere to each other when pressed together and adapted for use as aclosure, fastener, or button for closing garments, curtains, or thelike." A 1975 registration uses terms that sound a little morefamiliar: "separable fasteners-namely, hook and loop-typefasteners and components thereof."

The mark is also registered in a graphic form, which looks likethis, which also covers "separable fasteners, namely, hook andloop-type fasteners and components thereof" and other thingsthat sound very similar:

The trouble is, some benighted people might be out therereferring to hook and loop-type fasteners made by other companiesas "velcro." You might have done that yourself.

The normal response to this situation is for the owner of themark to take action to remind the public that VELCRO is a brand,not a generic term, and that the generic term for this stuff is"hook and loop," so please, please, pleasedon't use our brand name generically. It works best ifyour campaign is one that people might like well enough to payattention to rather than just turn past. Velcro Companies hasdone that with a new campaign: "Don't SayVelcro."

The crown jewel of the campaign is a highly-produced videofeaturing people purportedly from the Velcro Companies' legalteam, singing and dancing while instructing you, with bleepedprofanity, on the proper use of their mark. In fact, some ofthe cast are Velcro Companies' lawyers, but there are quite afew ringers in there, too. You can watch the video here, andI encourage you to do so:

Velcro Companies also has a couple of registrations for a markthat at least suggests that consumers should watch for"real" VELCRO-brand products (below), but thosearen't nearly as good as a viral video.

If you like the video, there's even a "behind thescenes" video here:

The lawyers at Trademarkology provide trademark registrationservices backed by the experience and service of one of thenation's oldest law firms. Click here to begin the process of protecting your brandname with a federally registered trademark.

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