Just as soon as I think of a witty retort, I'm going to let you have it....I love Source Fours but I'm honestly getting a little tired of seeing and hearing about them everywhere.
In the meantime, I offer the following list. Kleenex, Hoover, Frigidaire, Band-aid, Formica, Q-tips, Marley, Masonite, Makita, Mahoney, McCoy, Bates Plug, BlackWrap, TwistLock, Camlok, Socapex, Klieglight, Leko,
- Aspirin - Still a Bayer trademark name for acetylsalicylic acid in about 80 countries, including Canada and many countries in Europe, but declared generic in the U.S. and elsewhere[1]
- Cellophane[2] – Originally a trademark of DuPont[3]
- Crock pot – Crock-Pot is sold by Rival Industries, but "crock pot" and "crockpot" are common synonyms used by cooks to describe slow cookers[4]
- Dry ice[5] – Trademarked by the Dry Ice Corporation of America in 1925[6]
- Escalator – Originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company[7]
- Heroin[8] – Trademarked by Friedrich Bayer & Co in 1898[9]
- Kerosene[10] – First used around 1852
- Lanolin – Trademarked as the term for a preparation of sheep fat and water[11]
- Linoleum – Floor covering[12]
- Mimeograph[13] – Originally trademarked by Albert Dick
- Pilates exercise system – United States trademark formally canceled by court in 2000[14]
- Thermos - Originally a Thermos GmbH[15] trademark name for a vacuum flask; declared generic in the U.S. in 1963[16]
- Touch-tone – Dual tone multi-frequency telephone signaling; AT&T states "formerly a trademark of AT&T"[17]
- Trampoline – Originally trademarked by George Nissen[18][19] for the generic "rebound tumbler"
- Webster's Dictionary – The publishers with the strongest link to the original are Merriam-Webster, but they have a trademark only on "Merriam-Webster", and other dictionaries are legally published as "Webster's Dictionary"[20]
- Yo-Yo - Still a Papa's Toy Co. Ltd. trademark name for a spinning toy in Canada, but declared generic in the U.S. in 1965[21]
- Zipper – Originally a trademark of B.F. Goodrich[22] *
Last edited: