>I don't know, Pablo. But I did get the impression from another reply from Ken L. that it most likely had been used before.
>
>In English (North America at least) we have many words that are registered brand names yet have been used by everyone to become generic. Like "Coke" for a cola soft drink or "Xerox" for a copy or "Kleenex" for a paper tissue. Used to be that "IBM" was used to mean a computer, but that has died out now.
>By the way, these companies are usually happy to have this situation.
Not always are the companies happy. According to my textbook on Copyright, Trademark, and Patents, Xerox spent millions of dollars in a campaign to educate the public about the proper use of "Xerox" (like, that it should not be used as a verb, synonym to "make a photocopy"). The reason is that once a trademark becomes generic, it may lose its trademark status.
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
