The distinctiveness of a trademark may be lost in the following situations:
Trademark becomes generic name
Definition and reasons: When a trademark is widely used in the market and consumers gradually see it as a generic name for goods or services rather than a specific brand logo, the distinctiveness of the trademark will be lost. This is usually due to the trademark owner’s failure to reasonably maintain the trademark’s exclusivity, or improper use by competitors and the public. For example, “aspirin” was originally a trademark of Bayer AG in Germany, but due to the widespread use of the drug and non-standard citations by other companies, it eventually became the generic name for acetylsalicylic acid, and Bayer AG lost its exclusive rights to this trademark as a result.
Impact: Once a trademark becomes a generic name, the trademark owner cannot prevent other businesses from using this name to refer to similar goods or services, and thus loses the function of distinguishing the source of goods or services that the trademark originally had. Moreover, the trademark may be deregistered, which is a huge loss to the company’s brand assets.
Improper use of trademark
Excessive licensing: If the trademark owner excessively licenses others to use the trademark without strict control over the quality of the licensee’s products, brand image, etc., it may lead to the blurring of the brand image represented by the trademark, thereby reducing its distinctiveness. For example, if a high-end clothing brand licenses a large number of processing factories with uneven quality to use its trademark, consumers may become confused about the quality and style of the brand, and the trademark may no longer effectively reflect its unique brand value.
Expanding the scope of use to goods or services that lack relevance: If a trademark is extended to areas unrelated to the original goods or services during use without reasonable brand extension planning, it may weaken the distinctiveness of the trademark. For example, if a brand known for producing high-end mechanical watches suddenly uses its trademark on cheap plastic toys, it will be difficult for consumers to associate the trademark with the original high-end watch image, and the differentiation effect of the trademark will be greatly reduced.
The impact of market competition and industry changes
Imitation and dilution of competitors: In fierce market competition, competitors may dilute trademarks by imitating their appearance, name, and other means. For example, some counterfeit brands use trademarks that are similar to well-known brands. Although they may not be exactly the same, they can to some extent blur consumers’ understanding of the original brand trademark, which will weaken the distinctiveness of the trademark in the long run. Moreover, if a large number of similar trademarks appear in the market, consumers may find it difficult to distinguish between different brands, and the distinctiveness of the trademark may also be affected.
Industry technological changes and product updates: With the rapid development of industry technology and product updates, if trademarks cannot keep up with the times, they may lose their original distinctiveness. For example, in the field of digital products, some early brand trademarks may not be able to effectively reflect the characteristics and brand value of their products in the new market environment due to their inability to keep up with the pace of technological changes, such as not being able to adapt to new product forms in a timely manner (such as from traditional cameras to digital cameras, and then to smartphone cameras), and their distinctiveness may also decrease.