Legal Blog
Is Genericide Still A Thing? Maybe We Worry Too Much About ‘Proper Use Of Trademarks’
As Published in The Legal Intelligencer – Special Section March 2021: Intellectual Property
By: Laura Winston
Earlier this year, the comedian Seth Meyers was making a joke about a politician on his talk show “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” In doing so, he referred to a well-known brand of popular plastic building bricks as “Legos.” Mr. Meyers was immediately flooded with online comments telling him that the plural of Lego is Lego. He took to the airwaves again on the topic, thanking the commenters but adding, “It’s too late for me…I’m not going to walk home and tell my kids `Clean up your Lego’”. Not long after, the owner of the world-famous LEGO trademark got into the act via a tweet, saying, “Hey @SethMeyers, let us blow your mind…the plural is not `Legos.’ It’s not even `Legos.’ It’s actually `LEGO BRICKS!’” @LEGO_Group, Twitter (February 11, 2021), https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/1359856214591627269.
To view the article on The Legal Intelligencer website published on March 30, 2021, click here.
If you have questions about this or any other legal matter, please feel free to contact Laura Winston at 347.589.8536
Reprinted with permission from the March 30, 2021 issue of The Legal Intelligencer. © 2021 ALM Media Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.
ABOUT LAURA WINSTON
Laura J. Winston is a principal in the firm’s intellectual property group. Ms. Winston focuses her law practice primarily in the areas of trademarks, copyrights and the internet, representing a broad range of clients from individual business owners and small startup ventures to established Fortune 500 and publicly-traded companies both domestically and abroad. Ms. Winston practiced both at large firms and specialized intellectual property firms, before co-founding an intellectual property boutique firm. Her industry experience covers various industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals and medical devices, print and online publishing, computer-related goods and services, alternative energy, and travel and transportation.
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