The problem is when someone like me refers to EVERY piece of tissue I wipe my nose with, no matter what the brand, as Kleenex, which I do. I’m tossing around the name without any thought towards brand whatsoever. The name is absolutely meaningless, because it’s generic. And that’s what Band-Aid and Kleenex currently are in the American lexicon. So their manufacturers are sorta stuck with names they can’t really change, but don’t mean a goddamn thing to their brand or company.
I hope I’ve said that clearly enough for you to see why J&J and K-C consider that bad…
MilTan, the thing is those two trademarks (Band-Aid and Kleenex) are still good - they haven’t suffered genericide yet, and that’s why their respective owners keep fighting to keep it from happening.
Google’s quite smart to be taking action this quickly. As yet, the verb refers to the website itself - but who knows white might happen later?
Try to hold back the tide of common usage. Go ahead, try. Try with lawsuits and threats. Aint gonna work, even if they are legally right.
I can see Google’s point, but it’s futile. And usually when your product is so universal that it passes into common usage it is because your product is the “common usage”.