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Velcro was invented in 1941, but after losing its patent in the 1970s, the market was flooded with other “hook and loop” fasteners that, while not Velcro brand, were quickly labeled as such by the public.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzlTFP1h04e/
Basically, anything that sticks together without adhesive is Velcro, right? Maybe, but once a term becomes “genericized” in that manner, the original company loses its trademark. Legal resource UpCounsel refers to this process as Genericide, because the original company – Velcro, in this instance – would lose not only their trademark, but their ability to stop other companies from using trademarked branding on non-Velcro products. And, thus, they’ll probably lose a whole lot of sales.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1eME27JPDT/
In a last-ditch and hilariously original attempt to hold onto their trademark, Velcro has released a music video pretty much begging the public to help them out by saying “hook and loop” instead of their company name.
While the word f*ck isn’t bleeped in the video, the other brand names are, and the people at Velcro are quick to say that they’re not only doing this for themselves, but for every former brand name that fell victim to being so ubiquitous and popular that it eventually spelled their financial death.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1dz7t7B130/
“I know that bleeped stuff is more fun to say, but if you keep saying it, our trademark goes away.”
The video is entertaining, catchy, and quite smart – so please, enjoy.
And you know, maybe we could give them a break? Because if nothing else, this whole thing is sort of depressing in its desperation, is it not?
Is it too late? Are people ever going to abandon the word “velcro” for “hook and loop?”
If the people at Velcro have anything to say about it…still probably no, but at least they can say they didn’t go down without a (musical) fight.
