# Legos are\_\_\_\_\_ **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legos-are_____/119819 "2002-07-19T15:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 25
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legos-are_____/119819/25 "2002-07-19T22:10:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _acsenray wrote:_ > Just so you know, your efforts really have no effect on the issue. Neither your nor any other consumer or writer’s use of the word “Lego” has any effect on the Lego company’s trademark rights. They have to say what they say in order to preserve their trademark rights, but it doesn’t matter whether or not you follow it. You sure about this? Companies ask us not to use their brand as a generic noun because common usage can cause them to lose their exclusive use of a trademark. I recall ads by the Xerox corporation asking people to use the term “photocopy” as the noun or verb, and only use “Xerox” when referring to Xerox brand products, specifically because they were worried about losing their trademark. From reading their ad, it sounded like what made the difference was common usage. The alt.usage.english FAQ has a long list of common words that were once trademarks but lost their status for this reason. Ones I can recall are aspirin, oatmeal, gasoline, kerosene, trampoline, and zipper. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legos-are_____/119819)._