# When was the last time a product lost trademark protection after its name became genericised? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2022, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-product-lost-trademark-protection-after-its-name-became-genericised/964484 "2022-05-16T06:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-product-lost-trademark-protection-after-its-name-became-genericised/964484/14 "2022-05-16T16:20:31Z")
In December the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld a ruling that the Swiss Interprofession du Gruyère and the French Syndicat Interprofessional du Gruyère lost the U.S. “gruyère” trademark due to U.S. consumers not associating the mark with the region (genericide). You can read the USPTO case here, before it was appealed to the District Court: [https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91232442&pty=OPP&eno=18](https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91232442&pty=OPP&eno=18) The District Court upholds the ruling here: [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.496839/gov.uscourts.vaed.496839.106.0.pdf](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.496839/gov.uscourts.vaed.496839.106.0.pdf) The case is now on appeal before the Fourth Circuit. ~Max --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-product-lost-trademark-protection-after-its-name-became-genericised/964484)._