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Holy legos batman!


Maco70
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Kinda, Batman LEGOs™ have been in the stores for a while now.

Special message!

"The word LEGO® is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you! Susan Williams, Consumer Services."

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Man, I remember reading that message on their catalogs 10 years ago. Why don't they just give up already? It's not that friggin' big of a deal. It's like Nintendo insisting there's no "the" or "Nintendo" before "Wii."

The difference is that what the Lego company is trying to prevent is trademark dilution, while Nintendo doesn't have much to worry about there.

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Sweet cuppin' cakes, that's awesome! Hope it turns out as good as the Star Wars games.

The difference is that what the Lego company is trying to prevent is trademark dilution, while Nintendo doesn't have much to worry about there.

Actually, I think Nintendo would know a thing or two about trademark dilution (assuming it means what I think it means), considering all their consoles are generally referred to by parents as "the Nintendo." But so what? I mean, seriously here, what product of any sort of relative significance does LEGO make besides LEGO bricks? What do they WANT people to think of when they hear "LEGO" other than LEGO bricks? Or perhaps they should sue Eggo for using a homonym in their slogan.

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Actually, I think Nintendo would know a thing or two about trademark dilution (assuming it means what I think it means), considering all their consoles are generally referred to by parents as "the Nintendo." But so what? I mean, seriously here, what product of any sort of relative significance does LEGO make besides LEGO bricks? What do they WANT people to think of when they hear "LEGO" other than LEGO bricks? Or perhaps they should sue Eggo for using a homonym in their slogan.

The main problem is that a trademark is genericized if it's used like that, causing the company to lose the trademark itself. Outside of that, there's the risk of other compatible building systems being referred to as "legos" as well.

The process by which trademark rights are diminished or lost as a result of common use in the marketplace is sometimes known as genericide. This process typically occurs over a period of time where a mark is not used as a trademark (i.e. where it is not used to exclusively identify the products or services of a particular business); where a mark falls into disuse entirely; or where the trademark owner does not enforce its rights through actions for passing off or infringement.

For example, one risk factor which may lead to genericide is the use of a trademark as a verb, noun, plural or possessive, unless the mark itself is possessive or plural (e.g. "Friendly's" restaurants).

Have a list of predecessors:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks

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